Eyes of a Dragon
by Ashley Eon
Summary: <html><head></head>The prophecy called for the mind of a fighter, a heart of steel, two wings of lightning, eyes of a dragon, and the dark's brightest light. The symbolism seemed apparent at first sight, but maybe –just maybe– it's something more.</html>
1. Dodging lessons

**Hey there! This story has been ongoing for roughly a year and a half. The first few chapters are in the process of being edited.**

**This began as a story for sentimentality. The OCs are based on friends of mine who I rarely see all in one place. We used to have a team for a science competition, and now that it's over, the team hasn't seen each other as a whole since. I missed it enough to start writing this. As I kept writing, it became less of a sentiment and more of a real story.**

**Here's how it begins, in the battle frontier of Sinnoh...**

* * *

><p>An absol stepped into the dark bedroom, not bothering to keep her footsteps quiet. Taking a quick glance at the moon outside the window, she announced, "Ashley, there's a challenger."<p>

The girl on the bed didn't respond. Her dark hair was strewn over the pillow, and a hand hung off the edge of her bed.

"Ashley."

Ashley made a noise in her throat. "Go away, Sola."

"Ashley Eon, get your *ss out of bed."

"Go away and shut up."

Sola gathered energy in two spirals around her. The energy solidified into stones, which she shot at Ashley.

"OWWWW!" Ashley grumbled, sitting bolt upright. Her brown eyes locked onto Sola. "Can't you use me as target practice some other time?"

"No. There's a challenger," the absol said patiently.

Ashley grabbed her string bracelet off the table beside her. "Wait, at four in the morning?" she asked, frowning.

"Don't ask me. Ten-year-olds are nutcases."

Ashley went downstairs in her t-shirt and jeans, tripping over the tail of her ampharos as she went.

"Oof... Omega, can't you find somewhere else to sleep?" Omega yawned and rolled over.

"OW! Ow ow ow owowowowow!" Omega shouted, rolling sideways down the staircase.

"That'd be another reason why some other place would be nice," Ashley pointed out.

"Ha ha. Why are you up so early?" the electric-type wondered.

"Sola needed target practice."

"We've got a challenger at the front door," Sola corrected her pointedly.

"I'm coming, seeing as I'm _awake_ now," the ampharos yawned.

"Who else would be awake... Is Umbreon around?" Ashley wondered. She got tackled from behind.

"Course I'm around. Let's fight."

"Not you too," Ashley groaned, getting up off the floor. "Am I that great of target practice?"

"No, cause you're a sitting duck most of the time. Let's go _battle_," Umbreon said urgently.

"Okay, okay." The trio walked through the hallways of the Battle Castle. They and the rest of Ashley's pokemon had moved in only recently, after Darach had moved to Unova to be with Caitlin. The wide corridors and spacious rooms were still a novelty for the Celestic Town natives, but none of them spent much time inside anyways.

Ashley opened the front doors and realized the porch light – she called it that, even though there was no porch – was off.

"Hi! You must be Darach, the Castle Valet? I'm Thomas, and I'd like a battle with you."

Ashley laughed and turned on the porch light. A short guy who looked around ten years old looked shocked to see her. "I'll battle you if you don't call me Darach," she joked. "But then I'm going back to sleep, and you'd better get some sleep too. You need it to grow. My mom says so."

"Don't worry," Thomas reassured her. "This will be short."

_For someone who took over from Darach?_ Ashley thought.

* * *

><p>"Go, Pikachu!"<p>

"The classic electric mouse," Ashley sighed. "How overrated. Takes skill to get one to be a strong fighter. Omega!"

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" Thomas commanded, throwing his fist in the air as a battle pose.

"Thundershock, Omega!" Ashley didn't do poses.

The moves collided and exploded in midair. "Thunderpunch!" shouted Ashley.

"Volt tackle!"

Both moves hit, but Pikachu's recoil was enough for Omega's next thundershock to knock him out.

"Well done, Omega," Ashley told the ampharos.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile…<em>

"This isn't going to work."

"Of course it will. But there's one catch."

"Uh-oh…"

"Besides the gym leaders, you have to get rid of a group of newly risen figures. Not much is known about them, but they're powerful."

"Well that's not so bad. Who are they?"

"Two frontier brains, plus the new champions."

* * *

><p>"Snorlax! Use body slam!"<p>

"Dodge it!" Snorlax fell into the ground. "Thunderpunch!" Omega closed in.

"Giga impact," said Thomas.

_Ouch_, thought Ashley. "Take it head on," she told Omega with a grimace. Omega was knocked over, but managed to thunderpunch Snorlax. "Thundershock."

Snorlax was knocked out_. Two down, one to go_, thought Ashley.

"You can do it, Vibrava!" Thomas called out. "Sandstorm!"

Omega coughed as sand swirled around him. "Thundershock," said Ashley. Omega shot a beam of light at Vibrava, who dodged. "Hyper beam," Thomas said calmly.

Omega was knocked out. "Go, Sola," said Ashley.

An absol came out. "Psycho cut." The sword on Sola's head glowed purple and swiped at the Vibrava. "Stone edge." The stones hit Vibrava and knocked her out.

"Frack," said Thomas. He looked down at Ashley's feet. "Were you so unprepared you forgot to put on shoes?"

Ashley turned oddly red. "Um, no. It's… more technical than that."

"Oh-kayyyyy…" Thomas shrugged and walked out.

"And he was so polite before you pwned him," sighed Sola. "You could have told him why you can't wear shoes."

"And let some random kid know what I can do?" Ashley shook her head.

"You have to admit it's cool you can transform and stuff," mentioned Umbreon.

"It's not like it's one in everyone," Ashley reminded him.

"_Four in everyone,_" coughed Sola.

"Big difference, Sola."

* * *

><p>Ashley stood on the edge of the roof, wings outstretched to catch the wind. Unlike her friend Mike's wings, these were more like a dragon's. They stretched fourteen feet long, with veins running like spiderwebs across them. Despite being violet outside of light, the wings shimmered in every color that existed, and some that didn't.<p>

Tensing her wing muscles, she took off. She flapped several times and rose high into the air, above the Battle Castle and the land around it. From up there, she could see all of the Battle Frontier, including the Arcade, where her friend Aj was as the new Arcade Star. Dahlia had gone to Hoenn around the time Darach left.

Ashley caught an updraft and flew higher into the sky. She took a deep breath of the thin morning air. Luckily, her dragon lungs could handle it. Ashley looked down.

A small red fleck had appeared from below. It hurtled upward toward Ashley. She flapped once and narrowly missed getting hit.

"Dangit," said the latias. "Almost had you that time."

"Sagitta, no matter how much you and everyone else think I'm target practice, I'm still not," Ashley said.

"No, you're just getting dodging lessons. Besides, you're the closest thing I have to a target," said Sagitta.

"I saw you dive bombing some starlies this morning," said Ashley.

"What? I did not," Sagitta said in shock. Ashley looked around. _Hmm_, she thought_, no other latii around…_

Another red speck appeared, this time on the horizon. It zoomed at Ashley and Sagitta faster than Sagitta could possibly fly. They avoided the strangely red aerodactyl, but it swooped around and came in for another blow.

A sudden gust of wind blew Ashley straight up, making her an easy target for the incoming aerodactyl. She quickly surrounded herself in dragon energy and transformed into her full dragon form. Dragon energy materialized around her as an omniscient top and pants, and her eyes were suddenly the same color as her wings.

Ashley let go of the energy and the aerodactyl rammed straight into her. The blow was lessened by her transformation. She righted herself and let loose a dragon rage, blowing the aerodactyl away.

Sagitta was diving straight down towards the Battle Castle. Ashley followed closely, tucking her wings into her body to decrease the resistance. She flew onto the balcony and turned back into a regular, everyday person without wings.

Ashley looked up. The red aerodactyl had disappeared. "What. The freak. Was that."

Umbreon took one look at them and said, "Wow. Did you have a rematch or something? It looks like Sagitta got pwned as bad as Omega did."

Omega got some electricity ready.

"No, wait! I didn't mean it–"

**KA–BOOM!**

* * *

><p>Maylene was outside, practicing her kickboxing with Lucario. If you've ever done kickboxing, I feel bad for you. It's really, really boring.<p>

Maylene was getting bored of kicking the air. "Can we work on your aurasphere?" she asked Lucario. Lucario nodded in relief. He was getting bored too.

He formed the biggest, most powerful aurasphere her could and shot it right at Maylene, who got ready to deflect it.

It never came.

"Where'd it go?" wondered Maylene.

Lucario tried again. It was even bigger this time. He threw it and it disappeared again. _What the heck?_ he growled. Maylene couldn't understand him.

"Again!" she called to him.

Lucario brought up the biggest aurasphere he possibly could. It vanished before he even released it. Lucario got really mad and started throwing a frenzy of tiny ones at Maylene (all of them dissolved). Finally, exhausted, he gave up.

_What…the…heck…_ he repeated.

Then he looked up at the cannon positioned directly at him.

"NO!" screamed Maylene, watching Lucario get blasted with his own auraspheres. He was probably knocked out instantly, but Maylene couldn't see him through the bright light. The light faded and the cannon aimed itself at Maylene. It fired.

* * *

><p>Thomas went up to the Veilstone Gym. He looked inside: no one there.<p>

He checked around back: no one there.

He looked out back: just a whole bunch of aura-exploded grass. No one there.

Something clicked in his mind.

"HELP! MAYLENE'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!" Thomas shouted.

* * *

><p>Maylene woke up in a dark, cramped room. Her head hurt really bad. She felt rope tying her to a chair.<p>

"Lucario?" she called.

A door opened behind her. "Your Lucario is fine. You're going to stay here a while. Now be quiet."

The door closed. Maylene struggled against the ropes, which held firm.

"That's not fair. I had a date with Volkner today," she muttered.

* * *

><p>Volkner was battling Raichu against Luxray.<p>

"Thunderfang and quick attack," he said.

The pokemon charged at each other, but when they reached one another, they were using tackle and bite. Not very effective moves.

"What the–" yelled Volkner. "Thundebolt!"

The moves charged at each other. (Get it? They charged…never mind) But both got absorbed by something.

"Keep it up!" encouraged Volkner.

It ended up a lot like what happened to Maylene.

* * *

><p>Volkner came to in a dark room. Whoever had kidnapped him apparently couldn't afford a chair, so he was tied up on the ground.<p>

_Fudge it_, he thought. _My date with Maylene was today_.

* * *

><p>"Sola, can you get it?" Ashley called over her shoulder. She was trying to draw Umbreon.<p>

"Um, it's for you…" Sola yelled back a moment later.

Ashley went to the door. "Oh – hi Officer Jenny. What can I do for you?"

"Hello Ashley. It turns out Maylene and Volkner got kidnapped simultaneously. We'd investigate, but we're unbelievably close to catching Team Rocket. Could you investigate?" Officer Jenny said.

"Uh, yeah, sure," said Ashley. "Don't worry. We'll get them back."

"Good. We appreciate it." Officer Jenny saluted Ashley and sped away on her motorcycle.

Ashley called everyone back to their pokeballs except Sagitta. "I shouldn't fly in public, so I'm counting on you," she explained.

'Yeah, cuz a legendary pokemon is sooo much less obvious," muttered Sagitta. They sped up and away.


	2. Falling, fainting, and other air stuff

"London Bridges falling down, falling down, falling down," Sagitta sang.

"Sagitta…" Ashley said.

"What? It's not like there's any windows to break like at Kyle's house," Sagitta reminded her.

Ashley shuddered. "Yeah, well, don't get used to it."

"Gotcha," Sagitta said, clearing her throat. "London Bridges…"

"Arghhh… can you just not sing that?" Ashley said, covering her ears.

"Okay," said Sagitta. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star…"

Ashley groaned.

"How I wonder what the heck that is. Up above the trees so high, like a red thingy in the sky…"

"What the heck are you singing?"

"Improvising. See that red dot? I'm singing about it." Sagitta took a deep breath. "Twinkle, twinkle, thing that's growing…Hey! I made it rhyme!"

"Uh-oh," said Ashley. The growing red dot looked oddly familiar…

"Sagitta, use reflect," Ashley said warily.

A cube of light surrounded them, blocking the head-on attack from the same aerodactyl as before. His next aerial ace shattered the reflect.

"He's really powerful!" shouted Ashley. "Psywave!"

Sagitta shot a beam of colored light at the aerodactyl, engulfing him. He zoomed back in and bit her with firefang.

"OW!" Sagitta yelled. She dragon pulsed him and shot through the air. Ashley held tight to her wings.

"Brave bird," she told Sagitta.

"Wha– but you're on me," Sagitta stammered.

"Screw that. Just do it."

Sagitta surrounded herself in flames. She swooped down, converting them into blue dragon energy. It was all Ashley could do to hold on. But the aerodactyl was knocked out, so Sagitta flew away. "Are you okay?" she asked Ashley.

"Yeah," said Ashley, glancing once at her burnt hands. "Al right, full speed ahead to Veilstone City."

* * *

><p>Lucario was having a really bad day. It wasn't hard to see why, since he was in a hariyama's headlock.<p>

"Tell me about the meteors," the lady commanded again.

Lucario snorted. _What do you think I know about them?_ he growled.

"Quite a bit, as you live around them," she said, reading a translator. "I expect everything you know about them right now. Otherwise, this hariyama is exceptional at close combat. Once it was deadly."

_Fine_, Lucario sighed, spouting all the things he knew about alpha and beta radioactive decay.

* * *

><p>Sagitta landed in the middle of an immense scorch mark on the field Maylene usually trained on. Ashley jumped off and examined the soil.<p>

"Aura burn," she confirmed. "Lucario's type of aura."

"_Lucario_ did this?" Sagitta said incredulously.

"That's what it looks like," said Ashley, "But it's much too huge to have been a normal attack."

"Maybe it wasn't normal," Sagitta shrugged.

Ashley looked around. Everything around her was burnt, and a bit of the aura burn trailed off in one direction.

"Sagitta, this way," Ashley said, running to where the unextinguished attack pointed in the direction of Maylene.

* * *

><p>Maylene had been in one position for so long, her arms ached. She wasn't tired; she'd fallen asleep twice already from boredom. Her head hurt from when she had decided to scream really loud and someone had blasted her with the leftovers from Lucario's auraspheres.<p>

Yet the thoughts running through her mind were all along the lines of:

_Volkner. Where are you?_

* * *

><p>Ash was matching his Sinnoan pokemon against his Unovan pokemon in a huge training battle. "Oshawott and Buizel, watergun!" The pokemon shot a jet of water at each other. Buizel easily got through Oshawott's watergun.<p>

"Better luck next time, Oshawott," said Ash. "Snivy and Torterra, leaf storm."

Torterra won. "Ember and flamethrower, Tepig and Infernape."

Once again, the Sinnoan pokemon won. "Pidove and Staraptor, gust!"

"Is that really such a good idea?" Dawn worried from the sidelines.

"Course it is… AAAHH!" Ash shouted as he got blasted with a storm of dust. When it cleared, Pidove was knocked out and Staraptor was yawning from boredom.

*****_FAIL_* coughed Dawn. "This is why I didn't go to Unova."

Suddenly Ash fell over, which was weird because he had been standing still. "Aah… I just heard something from Maylene's Lucario," he said, surprised. "Something's wrong. The signal's coming from somewhere between Veilstone City and Sunyshore City."

Dawn gasped. "Of course! You only just arrived back from Unova, so you wouldn't know this. Maylene and Volkner were kidnapped simultaneously this morning."

"Aha!" Ash said in triumph. "Let's go help them!" He hopped onto Staraptor's back and brought all his other pokemon (except Pikachu) back into their pokeballs. He started to fly away.

"Hey!" yelled Dawn, grabbing Piplup and getting onto Togekiss's back. "Wait for me!"

* * *

><p>Ashley heard voices coming from around the corner. "How long do you think it will take to get enough information from the lucario?" a man's voice asked.<p>

"Not much longer. It's getting pressed to its limits; it should be telling Toxica the vital information soon," another man answered.

Ashley wrinkled her nose. _Toxica? What kind of a name is that?_

"All right. Then we'll move on. Cynthia's prophecy is certainly going to help us."

"What's Cynthia's prophecy?" Sagitta whispered.

"Of course," answered the other man. "We'll be the winners for sure. Especially with the dragon's eyes around the corner."

Ashley called Sagitta back into her pokeball right before a vine whip grabbed her. It pinned her arms to her sides and pulled her forth. She saw an ivysaur controlling the vines.

"So here she is," a man with wispy gray hair chuckled evilly. "What do you think she knows? Blaziken."

A blaziken approached Ashley and punched her without any warning.

"What do you know about Cynthia's prophecy?" the other man, who had short light brown hair and dark brown eyes asked her.

_Fire and grass_, thought Ashley. _So that's Daikenki and Infade_. She flicked the pokeballs she wanted off of her belt. A samurott (in Japanese, a daikenki) and an infernape appeared. "Help me out!"

Infade fire punched the ivysaur, making him release Ashley. Daikenki water pulsed Blaziken, slamming him into a wall and knocking him out. Infade used flare blitz and knocked out the ivysaur.

"Come on," said Ashley. Infade and Daikenki followed her into a hallway.

"That was close," she commented mildly, opening a door. "Hey Maylene."

Maylene craned her neck to look. "Hey Ashley. Thanks for coming."

Ashley untied her. "Do you know where your Lucario is?"

Maylene swore.

* * *

><p>Ash grimaced as another wave of pained aura hit him. "We're getting closer," he shouted to Dawn. His staraptor sped through the air faster than Dawn's togekiss. Togekiss flew faster. Staraptor pushed his wings harder. Togekiss caught an updraft. Staraptor–<p>

"Hey! Careful!" shouted Ash, almost falling off. Then he did. Staraptor swooped down and caught Ash's limp form on his back and brought him back up to Dawn.

"Ash!" she screamed. He wouldn't wake up. Then she looked down and saw why. "Staraptor, Togekiss, go down there," she told them. There was a massive building in the middle of the forest. It was way too random to be a coincidence.

When they got there, Ash's eyelids jolted open. "He's here! Lucario's here!"

"I knew it," said Dawn triumphantly. "Let's go." Staraptor and Togekiss returned to their pokeballs.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu said. _Go where?_

"Uhhh…" Ash trailed off. "We'll start with that door." They went up to a heavy looking glass panel.

Dawn pushed it open and stuck her head inside. She gestured for the others to follow. Inside was really dark. The only light came from the door. They walked down a quiet hallway, which soon became loud with shouts from a lucario. Piplup found a door and burst it open with bubblebeam. He ran in, yelling an attack cry.

And ran into the storage closet's stack of towels.

"Piplup, what are you doing this time?" Dawn sighed. "Come on."

"Luuppp…" Piplup groaned, following.

Ash rammed into a door and managed to shove it open. Unlike Piplup, he had found the room Lucario was in.

"Lucario!" he shouted in relief. "Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

Pikachu electrocuted the hariyama, who let go of Lucario.

"Hariyama, use focus punch," said the woman next to Lucario.

Pikachu ran into the hariyama head-on using volt tackle. The hariyama force palmed him across the room.

"Pikachu!" yelled Ash, catching him. Pikachu sprang up and used thunderbolt, knocking out the hariyama.

"HEY!" shouted the woman. Lucario's aurasphere and Piplup's whirlpool hit her at the same time. She fainted.

_Thanks_, Lucario told Ash through aura. _Have you seen Maylene?_

Footsteps sounded from the hallway. Piplup hydro pumped the first person to walk in the door.

"Aaah!" yelled Maylene.

_Oops! Sorry!_ Piplup shrieked. "Piplupipluppipluppippippip…"

"That's okay," said Maylene. "You all right, Lucario?"

Lucario nodded in relief.

"Okay," said someone in the doorway. "Next things next: have any of you seen Volkner?"

"Who are you?" Ash asked the girl.

"Ashley Eon. Aren't you Ash? I was amazed you could beat Tobias's darkrai," Ashley said.

"Oh – yeah," Ash said. "Hey, did he challenge Cynthia yet?"

Ashley's eye's widened. "Wow. You're really behind. He lost to her, then she got beaten by Mike Voltwing and Kyle Delta, but they couldn't beat each other. Cynthia, Darach, Caitlin, and… what's her name… oh yeah, Dahlia all went to Unova, so me and Aj Ferra are the Frontier Brains who took their place."

Ash blinked. "Wow. A lot happened while I was gone."

Dawn nodded. "So are we going to find Volkner now?"

"Wait, Volkner's gone too?" Maylene said in surprise.

"And Luxray and Raichu," added Dawn.

"Let's go!" Maylene ran out the door.

Ashley turned to Ash. "I didn't mention Maylene and Volkner started dating, did I?"

Ash shook his head.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean it wouldn't tell you?"<p>

"It claimed to not know. I pushed that lucario harder, and then…"

"Then what?"

"Then Ketchum and Berlitz came in."

"The ones that screwed Team Galactic over?"

"Those are the ones."

"I hear you. I'm getting a bit out of the electric gym leader. It helps that his little friends are here for my use."

* * *

><p>Daikenki raised his sword in the air.<p>

"Now!"

The samurott slashed through the door and shoved the pieces to the ground. Ashley came in after him and easily spotted Volkner. Her first thought?

_That. Is jacked_.

Volkner's unconscious raichu and luxray were hooked up to a machine of some sort. It was taking their electricity and using them to zap Volkner, who was tied up in a chair. A man with short gray hair and darker gray eyes looked at her.

"Daikenki, water pulse the machine."

The water pulse blasted the machine to bits, reviving the pokemon and stopping the electricity flow.

"Aquajet," said Ashley.

The man screamed as he was shoved out the open window. Ashley shuddered; his scream was like a ghost's.

Daikenki slashed through the ropes holding Volkner with razor shell, then unhooked Luxray and Raichu with the same move.

"Thank you so much," said Volkner. He clearly sounded shaken. He called Luxray and Raichu back into their pokeballs, then–

"Volkner!" shouted Maylene. Volkner looked up in surprise and gave one of his rare smiles.

Everyone looked away as they kissed.


	3. The prophecy only Kyle knew

"Okay," said Daikenki. "Now that Maylene and Volkner are safe and everything, can we go home now?"

Dawn screamed in a hopelessly dramatic way. "OH MY FREAKING GOSH YOUR SAMUROTT CAN TALK!"

Ashley sighed. "Yep. I forget who started that. It was probably Infade who first learned how. Now they all can talk."

"Can we go now?" Daikenki repeated.

"Yeah, sure," said Ashley, recalling Daikenki.

Something exploded in the distance. "On second thought…"

Sagitta, Staraptor, and Togekiss were let out of their pokeballs. Ashley, Ash, and Dawn hopped onto their backs.

"Let's go!" shouted Ash.

"Ash, they're not stupid; they could see that explosion through the outside of the pokeball," Ashley told him as the pokemon took off.

"It's a precaution," explained Ash. "I mean, what if Togekiss had been sleeping? Then Dawn would have been left behind and we'd all be happier…"

"Togekiss, use aurasphere," Dawn said.

"Hey!"

Ash fell and was caught by Staraptor for the second time that day. "Dawn…"

A red dot appeared from the direction of the explosion.

"Frack," said Ashley. "Him again? Sagitta, use dragon pulse."

Sagitta shot a ball of dragon energy at the aerodactyl, who dodged.

"He won't win anyways," Sagitta shrugged.

Sagitta got hyperbeamed full in the chest, and suddenly they were falling. Ashley brought the unconscious Sagitta back into her pokeball. Dragon energy whirled around her, and when she emerged, she had wings of her own.

"What the –" shouted Ash.

"Keep going! I'll take care of this," Ashley told them. She rushed at the aerodactyl using dragon claw with her fingers. It hit the immensely surprised aerodactyl, who obviously remembered her. Ashley used dragon rage, which narrowly missed him. He used aerial ace, but missed. Ashley draco meteored him directly, not throwing the ball of energy up first like you're supposed to. The aerodactyl fell down to earth and Ashley beat her wings rapidly to catch up to Ash and Dawn.

"How did you do that?" Ash asked.

"No idea," Ashley replied briskly. "I've been able to do that since I was born. Cloud."

"Wha –" Ash's staraptor flew into a cloud. They emerged soaking wet.

Dawn cracked up. "No, it's a good thing," Ashley insisted, "because –"

A jet of fire rushed at Ash. It would have burned him and Staraptor really, really badly, but since they were wet, it only dried them off.

Ashley used a real draco meteor this time, willing it to hit whatever had unleashed that flame. There was an explosion from down below, and simultaneously, Ashley realized where she was.

_Ohmygosh. Ohmygoshno._

She had endless memories of this place, starting from when she was six. She used to have playdates with her friend here. As they had gotten older, they had grown apart, but they knew each other so well, it wasn't saying much. Ashley had come here for a time to study for a competition with her friend, where they pwned most of the other teams. This was absolutely, positively Ashley's favorite place.

Recently, Sagitta had broken a window there singing.

Kyle Delta's house.

Ashley brought herself into a headfirst dive, righting herself just feet above the ground. Half the building was on fire, while the silhouettes of people ran around the other half. But only four people lived here, certainly not that many. And three of them were gone on business and field trips. Only Kyle was home.

Ashley landed and immediately brought a new energy to surround her: ice energy. The blizzard stopped and she had completely changed. Her wings were gone, and her attire as well as her eyes were icy blue. She released an ice beam upon the burning side of the house and ran in.

Men and women in silver clothing were turning the place upside down. They were throwing open doors, upturning couches, running up and down the stairs. A scuffle from upstairs caused a loud thud to resonate through the wall. Ashley knew who had to have gotten slammed against the wall. She ran upstairs and iceblasted her way into Kyle's room.

Empty.

His parents' room?

Still empty.

Study room?

AHA!

Ashley used ice beam on the guys holding Kyle down. She shoved the ice statues out of the way and helped him up. Kyle nodded in gratitude. He had transformed to his fighting form, but had lost his sword. Ashley found it on the bed and returned it to him.

"Thanks," said Kyle. "By the way, I found out how to beat a bunch of guys at once."

"How?" Ashley asked, amused.

"Be really, really nerdy to them." Kyle said with a grin. He slipped his sword into the scabbard hanging at his belt and picked up a Algebra 2/Trig textbook. Ashley followed his lead with a precalculus one and they went into the hall.

A gabite attacked them immediately with dragon rush. Kyle deflected it with the textbook and used it again on the gabite's head. Startled, the gabite dropped to the ground. Kyle and Ashley ran downstairs to find a bunch of treeckos aiming at them.

"Bullet seed!" someone shouted. An onslaught of seeds shot themselves at Ashley and Kyle, creating a cloud of pollen. Ash and Dawn, who had come in, couldn't see a thing.

"Ashley…" coughed Dawn.

The cloud disappeared and Kyle and Ashley reappeared – completely unharmed.

"Your textbook is wrecked," said Ashley. Kyle shrugged. He held the book out in front of him and surrounded it in an focus blast. It was much larger than the typical focus blast, and when he threw it on the ground, it exploded, blasting all the (I guess I'll call them) grunts out of the building. Miraculously, his home was fine.

* * *

><p>"You don't know about Cynthia's prophecy?" Kyle really sounded startled.<p>

"Nope."

"Not a clue."

"Never heard of it."

"So what is it?" Dawn was the first to ask.

"It's… Cynthia's prophecy."

Ashley gave him a Look.

"What am I supposed to say? It's a prophecy made by Cynthia that no one understands," Kyle explained. "I wrote it down somewhere…" He started to get up, then sat back down and opened the cover of his precalculus textbook. "It's right here.

'In the eternal battle of good and naught

An epic battle will be fought

The victors will have and know these well

While the losers will evermore stand in…' Um, yeah.

'A heart of steel

That can resist the conquering feel

The mind of a fighter

To vanquish all after

Two wings of lightning

Which confuse the fighting

Eyes of a dragon

To spot the heart's worst abrasion

And the dark's brightest light

That ends the fight'."

"You were right," said Ash. "It made no sense."

"Of course it did," snapped Dawn. "You're just too dim to realize it."

"This coming from _you_," Ash countered.

"What did you notice?" Ashley interrupted.

"Well, obviously there'll be a fight, and the winning side will have some characteristics. They'll have between them a heart of steel, mind of a fighter, two wings of lightning, eyes of a dragon, and the dark's brightest light," concluded Dawn.

Kyle nodded. Ashley recognized the way his eyes were shining. They always seemed brightest when he was about to go on a nerdy explanation. "Right, so there's all sorts of possible meanings in there. Heart of steel could be a relic, but it could also be a steel pokemon's heart – yeah, I know it's disgusting. Mind of a fighter is also like that, and two wings of lightning sounds to me kind of like Mike. Eyes of a dragon I've never heard of, so I'll go for disgusting, and the dark's brightest light… a candle, a fluorescent bulb, or it could be figurative… you know how sometimes light is symbolic for life? It could be that."

"Hmm…" said Ash, deep in thought.

**BANG!**

Kyle looked around. "What was that?" he said nervously.

Ash turned red. "My stomach," he admitted.

"…"

"PI – KAH!"

* * *

><p>"Do we have enough information, Mystor?"<p>

"We do indeed, Toxica. The energy transmit can be activated any time now."

"We'll wait a little longer, but not much. We also will need the four, like I said earlier. Although we can certainly activate the transmit first."

* * *

><p>Kyle threw out a pokeball. He and Ash had decided to have a training battle – after lunch, of course.<p>

"Apade, join us!" Out came his gallade.

"Buizel, I choose you!"

"Use night slash," said Kyle.

"Counter it with aquajet."

The moves formed a small explosion, knocking both back.

"Sonicboom!"

"Apade, dodge it and use close combat."

Buizel definitely didn't seem ready for that. He staggered and used icepunch, creating a spot of ice on Apade's midsection.

"Watergun," called Ash.

Apade was doused in water, knocking him flat.

"Acupressure," Kyle told Apade. The gallade soon got up.

"Sonicboom."

"Deflect it."

It was evident that Apade's special defense had been raised.

"Aquajet."

"Dodge and use acupressure."

Buizel missed, and Apade was ready for anything to come his way.

"Watergun."

"Get away from it! Acupressure once more!"

Apade managed to evade the attack and used acupressure again.

"Now! Stored power!"

A circle of glowing spheres surrounded Buizel. They closed in and hit him. Buizel's eyes widened as he fainted.

"Buizel can't battle! Kyle wins!" Dawn shouted.

"You said it wrong. It's, 'Buizel is unable to battle, the winner is Kyle,'" Ash said grumpily. He recalled Buizel. "Great job," he whispered to the pokeball.

"I can definitely see why you're co-champ," Ashley commented.

"You can battle me next," he joked, discreetly brushing aside the compliment.

"No, I think I'll stick to being a Frontier Brain," Ashley said. "That's really pretty smart, using acupressure and stored power."

"I was really surprised when Apade learned acupressure," admitted Kyle, "since gallades don't normally know it."

"So what?" Dawn retorted. "At least I win sometimes!"

"Oh yeah?" Ash shouted. "Well, try winning this battle!" He rushed at her. Dawn started running away and he chased her. Finally Dawn got bored of running and turned around.

"Uh-oh," said Ash.

Dawn reached back.

**SMACK!**

_A one hit KO!_


	4. Unplugging a power plant

A man with dark gray eyes looked solemnly at his pacing friend. "Smokelius, be patient. The okay is coming any minute now."

"Mystor, that's why I'm nervous," sighed the other man. He scratched his wispy gray beard. "It will be soon. But how soon? And will it work? And – "

"You have the go-ahead," interrupted a small intercom next to Mystor.

Mystor smiled at Smokelius and pressed a button. "I hear you, Folii. Transmit – " His hand hovered over one of those ominous-looking red buttons that make you think, "Nooo! Don't touch it!"

"Engaged." He pushed it.

* * *

><p>Raichu was outside. He heard a popping noise. He looked around and saw nothing, so he continued painting (he likes to paint).<p>

Luxray came outside, looking confused. He crawled under a nearby solar panel.

_Huh,_ thought Raichu. _That's weird_. He continued painting the ocean on the coast by Sunyshore City.

Volkner came out of the gym. _Wow_, thought Raichu. _He looks pissed_. Volkner crawled under the solar panel Luxray was under. Raichu kept painting.

Volkner swore. Raichu jumped; it wasn't like Volkner to do that. Volkner's feet came out, followed by his head. He seemed to be pondering something.

Luxray crawled out and electrocuted Raichu to give him a message.

_The power went out again. This time it's not from an overload and the panel says it's still working fine. It looks like the power is going somewhere else, away from Sunyshore City._

Raichu frowned. _Where?_ He zapped back.

A lightbulb almost literally lit itself over Volkner's head. "Oh my gosh… it was them," he murmured.

* * *

><p>Lucario looked up at the meteors. Once again, they were glowing blue and shooting a beam of light at the sky.<p>

He sighed, _Again?_ and bounced an aurasphere around like a volleyball.

_Oh wait –_

The aurasphere shattered as Lucario realized where the meteors' power was headed.

* * *

><p>"Yeah," agreed Aj, "I'll see what I can do." She hung up the phone.<p>

She brought out a metagross. "Diffri, I need to get to wherever the lost energy is going." Diffri nodded and let the Arcade Star onto his back. He zoomed up and away.

"What's that?" Aj wondered, spotting a red speck coming towards them.

"WATCH OUT!" shouted a familiar voice.

"Mike?" Aj said incredulously, looking at the winged teenager behind her. "What are you – "

"I SAID WATCH OUT SMART ONE!"

Mike used gust and blew her and her metagross to the side. Aj started getting mad at him before she saw a hyperbeam blowing past the spot Diffri had been hovering at.

"Whoa," she said, taken aback. "What – "

Diffri shot upward to avoid the attacker's aerial ace. It was a red aerodactyl. Mike surrounded himself in flames and dove at the pokemon with his wings tucked in. He spread them and the fire turned an icy blue. The attack collided with the aerodactyl, who seemed unfazed. Mike grimaced from the brave bird attack's recoil, but used air cutter. The aerodactyl dodged the blades of wind and clutched Mike's arms with his talons.

"AARGH… Get off me!" Mike yelled, struggling to get out of the aerodactyl's grip. Aero (as Aj had started thinking of him) powered up for a hyperbeam.

"Metal claw," shouted Aj. Diffri's claw turned silver and hit Aero right before the hyperbeam had fully charged up. Screeching, Aero released Mike. Diffri and Mike both used aerial ace.

Aero fell from the sky. "Are you okay?" Aj asked Mike, who nodded.

"That aerodactyl has been attacking me whenever I go for a fly," he told her.

Aj looked down at the falling prehistoric pokemon. "Wonder why," she said vaguely. "Hey, did you hear about the energy getting taken from Veilstone's meteors and Sunyshore's panels?"

Mike raised his eyebrows. "No," he admitted. "Is that where you're going?"

Aj nodded. "I was hoping Diffri would be able to sense the electricity since he's a metal type," she explained.

"Meta," Diffri grunted, facing one direction. He sped off, Mike in close pursuit.

"AAAH… I told you to stop doing that, Diffri!" yelled Aj.

Mike just cracked up.

* * *

><p>Folii and Toxica were discussing a prophecy.<p>

"Oh, come on. Mind of a fighter. Heart of steel. Wings of lightning. Eyes of a dragon. Haven't you heard of those four trainers with… with… powers?" Toxica said.

"Yeah, but really, you're telling me we're gonna, um, dissect?" Folii asked, slightly grossed out.

Toxica nodded.

Folii shrugged. "As long as you don't involve me in that bit. What about the last one – dark's brightest light? Do you know about that one?"

Toxica looked uneasy for the first time. "We haven't figured that one out yet. But we'll get the ones we need meanwhile. J is back in action at last."

* * *

><p>"GWAHHH~"<p>

Mike caught Aj by the hand as she fell off Diffri's back. "Thanks – Diffri, you can't stop that suddenly."

Diffri put on a fake guilty look.

"Dude, seeing as you're an oversized magnet, you ought to know basic laws of physics," sighed Aj. Mike flew her back onto Diffri. "All right, keep going," she said.

Diffri didn't budge. He seemed to be deep in thought.

"Diffri?"

Mike and Diffri simultaneously went into a sudden nosedive.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Aj screamed, hurtling toward the ground with them. The two fliers slowed to a stop near the ground, reaching earth with a soft thump.

Mike straightened up and his wings disappeared. His eyes changed from light gray back to their normal brown. "Here we are," he said, indicating the abandoned power plant in front of him. "Let's go in. Aj?"

Aj was still clutching Diffri's back. With her face pressed into him, she replied, "Kay, yeah."

Mike let out a loud breath and walked up to the crumbling metal structure. He found a gap in the twisted metal and crawled in.

"Diffri, return," Aj said, finally crawling onto the ground. She stood up and followed Mike in.

"What took you so long? Fear of ghosts?" he said mockingly.

"Better than fear of fish."

Mike huffed and crawled farther in. Debris was everywhere, blocking most paths through the place.

"Ow!" He hissed. His voice echoed in the deserted room.

"Shh," whispered Aj. He showed her the cut on his palm. "Oh. Okay then."

Aj got the distinct feeling of being watched, like the hairs on the back of your neck are magnetized to whoever's there. She looked around and, of course, saw nothing.

"Over here," Mike whispered. Aj looked through a hole in what appeared to be an old solar panel. She saw a mass of metal rods that were glowing almost too bright to see. The light had been blocked from the room they were in by a stack of computers and conveyor belts, making a sort of wall. Behind the rods, Aj could just barely make out the figures of three people.

"This is where the energy is going," Mike whispered in awe. "I'm gonna get to the other side of that room."

He started to slide away.

Aj pressed her weight on Mike's foot.

"Ow!" he grunted. "What the #$%^ was that for?"

Aj crawled past him. "Duh. I'm not letting you have all the fun."

Mike reluctantly followed her.

* * *

><p>Ashley watched Kyle intently. He had promised her he wouldn't fall off his latios, but she was never sure what would happen when he was in psychic mode.<p>

Kyle's head twitched toward the left and his latios, Aquila, turned with him. Sagitta, Staraptor, and Togekiss followed. The tense expression on Kyle's face softened and Aquila began a gradual descent.

Kyle opened his eyes upon reaching the ground. "This is it," he announced. Aquila returned to his pokeball.

"It's a wreck," said Dawn, looking at the ruined power plant.

"It wasn't very old when this happened. People say Dialga and Palkia had a fight here soon after Alamos town," Kyle explained.

"There's a spot here," Ash said, indicating a tall, narrow crack in the side of the building.

Ashley was examining a spot on the ground. _It looks like something landed here… _she thought_. Like a metagross…_

"Come on," Ash said, slipping through the crack. He fit with room to spare.

Dawn slid through, just barely making it.

Kyle made it through better than Ash did.

"Fudge," Ashley groaned. She was stuck. Pulling herself back out, she said, "I'll find another way in. You guys go on ahead." She looked around and finally found a hole at the base of the wall. Ashley crawled in.

* * *

><p>Aj quietly transformed into her steel form. Her hair turned metallic silver and her clothes were gray. She looked back at Mike with steel-colored eyes.<p>

"You're sure this is them?" she confirmed. Mike nodded. "Okay." She took a deep breath and extended her hands out to the sides. Mike backed away and her hands started to glow blue. She started spinning. You guessed it: gyro ball. Or maybe you didn't guess it.

She crashed into the room and barreled into the first electric rod. It tumbled over and went dark. She got zapped, but hardly felt it as a steel type. Aj knocked over the rest of the rods until no more energy flowed into them. Only then did she stop spinning. She looked up.

A blaziken knocked her over with flare blitz. Mike groaned from behind the wall.

"Whoa!" Aj shouted. She formed a focus blast. The blaziken blasted it into her own face and fire punched her. She fell to the ground, a bruise on her cheek.

_Here goes nothing_, thought Mike. He turned electric, with silver and gold clothes and bright yellow eyes, and blasted a thunderbolt at the blaziken. A flygon came at Mike out of nowhere and used sandstorm. He coughed as the sand got into his throat. The flygon came back down and used sand tomb on him.

_This is bad_, thought Mike as he sank beneath the sand.

* * *

><p><strong>This one took awhile from writer's block. It ended out fine, though.<strong>

**And in case you're wondering, yes, my friend who Mike is based on is afraid of fish.**

**...**

**Dead fish. Fish with a water mold on its mouth like in our science textbook. I don't like the picture either but jeez...**

**Review the freaking chapter. Please is not an option.**

**:D**


	5. Never tell a lie around Aj

In two cities miles apart from each other, Maylene and Volkner were both happy. The energy thief had disappeared.

Those right by the energy thieves were a different story.

* * *

><p>Kyle Delta stuck his head around the edge of a jagged metal slab. The bangs and crashes had stopped, and the entire place was eerily silent. He watched two figures and two pokemon setting the energy-collecting rods back up again.<p>

Ash was the one to notice the others. "Look in the corner," he murmured. Kyle's eyes found one person hunched over two smaller ones. The smaller figures were motionless. The one moving around tugged something on them and moved away. At that moment, one of the energy rods lit up again and Kyle could see what was going on more clearly. The pokemon were a blaziken and flygon, the people walking around were all men, and –

He blinked to see if he was seeing things right. _Is that really Mike and Aj?_

Kyle went faster through the ruins, just in case.

* * *

><p>Ashley flinched when the light came back on, right in her face. Luckily, they didn't see her. She had realized the unconscious ones tied up in the corner were Aj and Mike not so long ago, and was (unsuccessfully) trying to come up with a plan.<p>

"Umbreon," she finally whispered, tossing a pokeball. Her umbreon looked up at her. "Keep in the shadows and try to untie Mike and Aj." Umbreon nodded and disappeared. Ashley sat back and waited.

* * *

><p>Aj woke up, her head throbbing like mad. She was vaguely aware of being on the ground, tied to something warm.<p>

_Ow_, she thought, falling asleep.

* * *

><p>Mike jolted alert. What was he tied to? <em>Oy – Aj? Hmph<em>. Something was wrong. Besides that he could barely move. And that he was tied to a girl.

Oh man. His feet had socks on them.

_How did they know?_

* * *

><p>Dawn was getting tired of squeezing through tight spots, only to find tighter ones awaiting her. It looked like they were almost ready to go into the main room, though.<p>

"Here," Kyle said. She and Ash stopped. "When I say go, bring out any pokemon that will fight." He looked down at the familiar umbreon biting the ropes off Mike and Aj.

"Ready." the last of the ropes fell off.

"Set," Mike pulled the socks off his feet and Umbreon pulled them off Aj.

"GO!" Aj woke up.

"Piplup, spotlight!" Dawn yelled.

"Pikachu, go!" shouted Ash.

Across the room: "Umbreon, you're on your own!"

A second later, four blurs of energy (one orange-brown, one blue, one gold, and one black) sprang up across the room.

"Bubblebeam!"

"Thunderbolt!"

Kyle's fighting form came out of the orangish-brown energy ball. He unsheathed the sword at his side.

Aj was next, emerging with hair blue like water and clothes like rainclouds. Her now-blue eyes shone brighter than usual from an increase of water.

Mike came out in his electric form, which I described in the last chapter.

Ashley was last, in jet-black pants, shirt, and a sort of cape. Her black eyes found the one lit rod. She fired a dark pulse at it, pitching the entire place into darkness.

"AAARGH – CHARIZARD RAPIDASH MAGMORTAR TYPHLOSION AND BLAZIKEN GO!"

Ashley smirked. _Glow-in the-dark targets. Perfect._

Bubblebeam and thunderbolt had knocked out the other two men, so the owner of the fire pokemon was still somewhere.

The rapidash got one of Aj's huge hydropumps. Ashley shuddered; she knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of one. Magmortar had just gotten nightslashed by Kyle, who got firepunched right back. Ouch… Mike chargebeamed the typhlosion, who nearly got him with a flamethrower. Ashley dark pulsed the blaziken, who charged at her. Umbreon, Pikachu, and Piplup had the charizard.

Ashley and the blaziken were in a combat of physical moves. Ashley suckerpunched him, he firepunched her, she suckerpunched him, he blaze kicked her, she nightslashed him, etc. Fortunately for her, he got knocked out first.

Aj, a water type, KO'ed the rapidash in no time flat. She yawned and stared around the room, watching the others.

A thunder wave knocked her over. MIKE! She tried to shout. _He needs to watch who's around him when he does that… _She attempted to swear loudly, but failed.

Mike was chargebeaming like mad. He was aiming for the really huge one-hit KO. He used thunder wave, paralyzing the typhlosion (and, yes, Aj). He thunderbolted him for the huge KO he'd been anticipating.

Kyle was blocking every firepunch with a nightslash (he could use it even though it was a dark type move). He dodged the next firepunch and got ready for a vacuum wave.

"Aahhh…" he groaned as he got hit by a magma storm._ Magma storm? That's heatran's move… _He released the vacuum wave, knocking out the magmortar. The magma storm kept going.

Piplup used whirlpool. Pikachu electrified it (the whirlpool).

"CHARRR!" The charizard was KO'ed.

Ashley noticed Kyle. She spun into her ice form and icebeamed the area around him. Ashley ran over to see how bad it had burned him: Kyle was unconscious and had charred arms and legs - she couldn't see any more that that in the near dark. She icebeamed him, just in case.

"Oops," she said. The ice covered his feet, so he became a normal person again.

Umbreon came up to her. "I think I pwned," he said proudly.

"Pikapika," Pikachu objected.

"Pip," Piplup puffed out his chest proudly.

"Biika," Pikachu sighed.

"This isn't over!" a gravelly voice shouted. "HEATRAN!"

Something huge landed in the middle of everything. Unlike the other pokemon, the heatran didn't give off light.

"Here goes," muttered Ashley, becoming her dragon form.

Heatran magma stormed everyone around him. It melted the ice on Kyle and affected everyone but Aj and Ashley – or at least it only affected them half as much. Ashley flew up and shot a draco meteor straight up. It burst into twenty pieces and hit Heatran on the back, illuminating the spot he was at. Aj (who had finally gotten rid of the thunder wave) hydropumped him. Ashley counted to twenty as the heatran weakened from the water and finally fell.

The guy with the fire pokemon brought his heatran back into his pokeball. Seeing that somehow his comrades had already left, he turned and ran out a back door. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA..."

"…"

"Oh yeah," Aj remembered, walking up to Mike. "Nice thunder wave."

"Uhhh… Thanks?" he said.

She conjured a water pulse.

"OH HECK NO!"

**BOOM!**

_It's an epic win!_

* * *

><p>Ashley was already getting bored. Kyle was in the emergency room from the magma burns. Dawn and Ash had absolutely insisted on it, not knowing that he'd be completely recovered within an hour. Kyle had been the one to come up with the formula to calculate it; only Aj had ever caught on.<p>

"One hour, four minutes, and fifteen seconds," declared Aj after going through all the tangents and cosines and whatnot that Mike and Ashley didn't find interesting or even understand.

_The nurse is going to be so shocked_, thought Ashley, w_hen she sees a patient who needed weeks to recover completely fine._

The door at the other end of the hall opened. Aj looked in. "Hey," she said cheerfully. "You look upset."

"The nurse really isn't going to like seeing him recover like a freak," Ashley said. "Sometimes I'd rather be normal."

"Really? It's kind of cool to be able to command elements. You and Mike can even fly." She thought a bit. "Oh wait. Never mind."

"Never mind what?" Ashley knew something was on Aj's mind by the sneaky grin on her face.

"You could just say what you're really thinking," said Aj in a persuasive voice.

"Umm…" Ashley said, confused. "I did."

"Nuh–uh."

"I did."

"Nuh–uh."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're upset that Kyle's recovery will look suspicious," said Aj. "In other words, you're being protective."

"Which is supposed to mean…?" Ashley prompted.

"Duh. Ashley, you even came to the old power plant with him. He woke up just now and told me you saved his life or something at his house."

"Dude, just tell me."

"YOU LIKE HIM!" Aj shouted, immediately cracking up.

Ashley was stunned. "Do not," she objected bluntly.

Aj stopped laughing long enough to argue, "Do too."

"Not."

"You do."

"Not."

"Too."

"Dude, what are you saying? That he's like, my _heart's desire_?" Ashley snorted. "Mm-hm. I tooootally believe that."

"Your face is turning red."

Ashley felt her face. It was hot. "So is yours," she lied. "Oh I know – YOU like him and so you're trying to tell yourself it's ME or something." That made sense… sort of.

"No. It's definitely you."

Ashley was running out of patience. "Look, are you just making a joke? Cuz I don't like him like that."

"You just won't admit it." Aj shrugged. "My brother's like that too. He ended up admitting it in the end."

That did it. Ashley morphed into her dark form. "Take it back."

Aj started singing (or cracking up, it was hard to tell which), "Myyy teacher told me I should never tell a liiiiiiiiiiee…"

Ashley moved casually at Aj, then lunged with faint attack. Aj went into water mode and waterpulsed her back, still singing, "because a lie will bring you trouble sure as piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiee…"

Ashley suckerpunched her. "Oof – it's an awful thing to do, and as true as true is true, you'll get caught, and then you'll start to cryyyyyyyyy…" She watergunned Ashley. Ashley countered with payback, and the moves slammed the girls against opposite walls.

Mike came in. "What are you guys doing?" he asked, totally clueless.

Aj and Ashley looked at each other. They shrugged. Aj got an aquajet, Ashley got a suckerpunch. They both looked at Mike.

"WHAT THE F~"

**BOOM!**

_It's an epic win!_

* * *

><p><strong>I have a lot of things to say about this chapter. First is probably to mention that Mike is not that big an idiot in real life…well, maybe that's a lie…<strong>

**"You'll have a horrid painful pounding in your heeaaaaad…"**

**Aj, shut up. That was the other thing: my class sang that when I was in second grade. Thanks to the teacher who taught it to us.**

**In case you're unclear, Ashley is NOT giving the slightest doubt up there that she doesn't like him like that. Aj is serious though.**

**Last, Axel Nightblazer says if I give him credit for the talking pokemon idea, he won't use that judgement thing on me. So yeah, I got it from him.**

**Axel: I did not say that! Go, DIVINE JUDGEMENT!**

**Aj: And you will feel your face get hot and turn bright reeeeeeed…**

**BOOM!**

**Divine Judgement missed and hit Aj! It's an epic win! Speaking of which, the epic win thing came from Axel Nightblazer and Aeron Solo.**

**(somewhere Up There): And you heart will start to thump, in your throat you'll get a lump, and you'll feel so bad you'll wish that you could lie right down and diiiiiiiiiee…**

**Remember never ever tell a liiiiiiiiiiee!**

**Thank you very much, Aj. What the f~boom did NOT come from Axel – It came from Mike, actually. It's a joke between us four.**

**Something that is from Axel: threatening people to review. Need I say more?**


	6. Undead as a doornail

"Aha!" Folii yelled in triumph.

"What on earth are you shouting about?" Toxica said grouchily. "We just failed. Want an adjective? Miserably. Awfully. Despicably. Epic–"

"If I want synonyms, I'll consult a thesaurus," retorted Folii. She turned back to the computer screen to check if she was right. Brushing soft brown hair out of her face, she nodded. "Yeah. It – it actually worked out. We're golden!"

"Care to explain?"

"Not really."

Toxica conjured a ball of poison in her hand.

"I didn't say I wouldn't!" Folii protested. "It turns out we got enough energy from the transmit stored to carry on as planned."

"Oh," Toxica said in surprise. "Well, then carry on as planned!"

* * *

><p>Ashley's head fell into her hands. "Stupid-stupid-stupid-stupid-why-wouldn't-they-listen-those-idiots," she muttered. She was still worried about the nurse's reaction.<p>

"Well, uh, look at the bright side!" Aj said brightly.

Ashley glanced up. "Which is?"

"Uhhh…" Aj thought about it. "Oh yeah! He's probably all healed by now. Well, no," she said, checking her watch, "There's forty seconds left. But still!"

Ashley counted down forty seconds. She stood up and walked over to the emergency room door. "You'll help with the fake accident?" She confirmed.

Aj scoffed. "Duh. I'm the specialist." She went in ahead of Ashley, who was remembering their fight earlier.

_What the heck goes on in her mind?_ Ashley wondered. _No – I don't want to know._ She followed Aj toward the room where Kyle was. Before she got there, she saw Aj go in.

"Do you MIND?!" Kyle shouted.

"Oops," Aj said calmly, retreating back into the hallway. Seeing Ashley, she shrugged. "You never know when guys are gonna be changing."

"You…" Ashley stammered. "You just…seriously? That's messed up."

"He HAD boxers, if that's what you're saying," Aj said. "You're messed up to be thinking that."

"Look who's talking," Ashley replied. "I was freaking trying to make you show your team spirit, but noooooo…"

"You were trying to take off what LOOKED like my shirt –"

"It was a sweatshirt!"

"So I wasn't showing my _team shirt_. Just for that!"

"You thought wrong, not me!"

"You look wrong," Aj said as she knocked on he wall. "Done yet?" she called.

"Yes," Kyle said.

They went in. Kyle was in his normal clothes, the smock belonging to the hospital on a chair. "The records are there," he said, pointing to a table.

Aj halfway whirled into her water form: her clothes were normal, but her hair and eyes had turned blue. She grinned evilly at them. "Here goes!" She waterpulsed the clipboard, obliterating all the information about Kyle, his burns, and how long it should take to recover. Then she was human again. "Okay, I'm done," she said, shaking her orange-brown hair out of her sweatshirt.

"One other thing," Kyle said. He went into his full out psychic form. He looked basically the same, except his jacket was dark blue. "It's called knocking," he explained to Aj. "Have you heard of it?"

"Umm…"Aj didn't know what to say.

Ashley discreetly backed away, adjusting the bracelet she always wore.

Kyle brought up a psybeam.

"WAAAAAAAAAH…"

**KA-BOOM!**

_It's an epic win!_

* * *

><p>Mike was lying on a bench outside, looking utterly bored. His eyes were shut and his arms were under his head. One could have mistaken him for being asleep, but –<p>

"Hey, Shiolu."

The luxray that had been sneaking up on him swore. "What gave me away?" he asked.

"You're charged," Mike told him. "Electrically."

"I've felt overcharged lately," Shiolu admitted. "I need a battle."

"Really?" Mike sat up. "Lignite's been wanting a battle for a while."

Shiolu rolled his golden eyes. "I am NOT falling for that again. You just went and let me get pwned so bad."

"How about Togekiss? She's been cooped up for a long time now."

"Tos?" Dawn's togekiss, who was nearby, turned her head.

"You could battle with me," Dawn said, with an eager light in her eyes.

"All right," Mike agreed. "A double battle?"

"Even better."

* * *

><p>"Togekiss and Buneary, spotlight!"<p>

"Shiolu and Togekiss, it's all you!"

"Togekiss versus togekiss," Dawn commented, "This ought to be interesting."

_She's focusing on the togekisses_, thought Mike. _I'll just enhance that_.

"Air slash," he called out. Shiolu looked at him, perplexed. Togekiss (whose name was really Hope) made a ball of air and shot it at Dawn's togekiss, who dodged.

"Buneary, ice beam, and Togekiss, dodge it!" Dawn yelled.

Her togekiss flew straight up, while her buneary used ice beam on Shiolu.

"Hold a weatherball. Charge it with as much electricity as you can," Mike said softly. Raising his voice, he shouted, "Aerial ace!"

His togekiss barely missed Dawn's. "Buneary, get on Togekiss's back!" Buneary stopped using ice beam and got on Togekiss. "Now, ice air slash!"

Her togekiss formed an air slash, which Buneary used ice beam on. Togekiss launched it at Mike's togekiss.

"Rain dance," he said quickly.

_What does rain dance have to do with avoiding ice air slash?_ wondered Dawn. His togekiss used rain dance and immediately got hit with the airy iceball. The previously cloudless sky turned gray with cumulonimbus clouds, and it immediately started pouring.

"Bounce and sky attack!" Dawn said.

_She has the air of someone who "knows" they're about to win_, Mike thought with a smirk. "Dodge. Code L."

Togekiss's eyes lit up: Code L never failed. She swooped out of the reach of the bounce, then the sky attack, and glided through the air in a graceful loop-the-loop pattern. Buneary and Dawn's togekiss used bounce and sky attack again and again, following their target.

_And that's why Code L stands for lure_, Mike thought. "Shiolu, now!"

Shiolu's rain weatherball was coated in ice from Buneary's icebeam, and he had charged it with electricity. He waited for Dawn's togekiss to be right in front of him, then released it in her face.

**KA-BOOM!**

"Togekiss, return," Dawn called back the unconscious pokemon. "Buneary, ice beam straight above his luxray!"

Mike was genuinely interested now. The falling water droplets caught the freezing energy and became ice. They collected until a sheet of solid ice was falling down on Shiolu.

"I like your way of thinking," commented Mike. "Too bad it won't work. Sunny day!"

Togekiss made the rain go away, replacing it with a scorching hot sun that melted the ice into a few harmless droplets. "Shiolu, weatherball!"

The fire type weatherball hit Buneary straight on, knocking her out. "Well done, Buneary," Dawn told her. "And he is the champion, after all."

"Co-champion," he corrected her. _I wonder how the other is doing…_

* * *

><p>"But I swear, you were the one with those awful burns," Nurse Joy protested. "You can't be like this already –"<p>

"Oh, the burns weren't that bad," Kyle said calmly. "It was just a cyndaquil sneeze. I'm sorry about the papers, though. I just wasn't watching what I was doing."

"No, no, that's fine," Nurse Joy reassured him. She definitely seemed flustered. "Well, I suppose you can leave now. Come again if you need anything."

"A cyndaquil sneeze?" Aj said when they had gotten out the door. "You couldn't think up something more creative?"

"Cuz you're so creative," Ashley reminded her.

"OHHHH! DEFENDING HIM!" Aj yelled, running off to burn off her sudden energy.

Kyle looked at Ashley. "What's she talking about?" he asked.

Ashley turned red. "She's just being stupid," she replied lamely. She could tell Kyle wasn't satisfied with the answer, but he just shrugged. He never had been nosy. Just like she had never fallen in love. _Jeez, Aj._

They reached where Mike and Dawn were clearing up a dirt battlefield. A few explosions had blasted holes into it, which they were filling back up again. Mike looked up.

"Oh, hey," he said, noticing Kyle. "You healed fast."

Kyle shrugged and looked at the ravaged battlefield. "That looks like an intense battle. What code was it?"

"A new one," Mike said proudly. Being the huge computer nerds they were, they naturally had come up with a new coding system for pokemon. "It was supposed to be WRC-L, but Dawn used ice beam on it. After that was a WS. Dawn came up with a great one: freezing the rain to make a sheet. It was brilliant! If it could just be worked on a little more…"

"What's WRC-L?" Aj asked.

"Weatherball-rain dance charged plus lure," Kyle told her.

"Huhhh?"

Dawn straightened up and realized –

"Has anyone seen Ash?"

* * *

><p><em>Ten minutes earlier…<em>

"Pi – Kaaaah!" Pikachu squealed in delight.

"Perfect day for a walk, huh Pikachu?" Ash voiced. "Not a cloud in the sky."

They kept walking through the quiet forest. Suddenly they heard a rumble.

"WHOA! What was that?" Ash yelled.

"Pika," Pikachu said, looking at the darkest part of the forest, away from the path.

"C'mon," Ash said, breaking into a run. Pikachu followed swiftly after.

They ran over several humps in the hillside, which turned into a gradual slope upwards. The brush got thicker and thicker, peaceful berry bushes becoming vines with thorns that scraped their faces as they ran. The trees blotted out the light to the point that Ash considered taking out his infernape. But then they reached a clearing, and it became unnecessary. The sun had gone away and it was pouring rain, probably from someone's rain dance. What caught Ash's attention, though, was the huge airship that had landed in the middle of the field. It was huge, black, and bulky, and it was exactly the ship Ash had thought he'd never see again.

Hunter J's ship.

"Let's go, Pikachu," Ash said, taking advantage of the darkness from the clouds to run across the field to the airship. The lower hatch was open, as it usually was when it landed. He and Pikachu climbed up it, not bothering to sacrifice speed for silence. But it was worth it, since right as they made it in, the rain dance turned into a sunny day, throwing everything into sharp relief. He and Pikachu crept through the corridor, looking for the main control room.

J was in there. It gave Ash a shiver up his spine just to see her, not dead as everyone thought. She was talking to one of her many henchmen.

"Remember," she said. "Your job is just to locate the four. I'll do the rest once you notify me."

"Yes, sir!" he immediately answered. "How can I identify them?"

"There are two girls, two boys," J explained. "The girls are dark haired and orangey-brown haired – the color you get from chlorine. The one with dark hair wears a string bracelet, and the orange haired one had green braces. The boys both have black hair, but one has dark skin. He doesn't usually sit still. The other is skinny for his age, and wears braces like the girl. You understand?"

_I understand_, realized Ash. _It's them – the ones we turned off the power plant with. Aj, Kyle, Mike, and Ashley_.

The henchman left. _I've gotta tell them_, realized Ash. He started to sneak away.

"Oh no you don't. Drapion, grab him."

Ash felt claws tighten themselves around his midsection, pinning his arms to his sides. J's drapion brought him around to face the female pokemon hunter.

"Did you really think you would get on and off easily?" J sighed. "You never learn."

"Let…me…go!" shouted Ash, struggling to free himself from Drapion's grip. "Pikachu, quick attack!"

"Piiiiii…" Pikachu said, powering up for quick attack.

J aimed the new machine on her arm at Pikachu and fired. "PIKACHU NO!" Ash yelled. Pikachu was encased in stone.

A tiny device below J's cannon beeped. "Sir, we have found the first one. He is alone," a tinny voice said. J nodded.

"I'll leave him with you," she told her drapion.

"Ha!" Ash twisted around to face her. "You mean you can't handle a thirteen year old boy in your truck? HA!"

The corners of J's mouth tightened. She picked up Pikachu carelessly and brought out her ariados. "He's coming with us." The ariados used string shot on Ash until he could barely move, and brought him along into the bulky truck.

Neither J, nor Drapion, nor Ariados saw Ash's mouth relax into a relieved smile.

* * *

><p>Kyle left the bookstore, carrying his new textbooks in one hand and thumbing through another in his other hand. It looked like it would be an interesting course.<p>

"Hold it right there," a cold voice said behind him. Kyle stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Yes, what is it?" he replied in a voice that matched the exact tone of the first one.

"Turn around."

Kyle obliged, and immediately blocked a petrifying blast with his chemistry textbook. It clattered out of his hands, turned to stone. He looked up and immediately recognized the person who had fired it at him. "I thought you hunted pokemon," he noted, "Not people. Besides that, you're dead."

"Then I'm a zombie," J said with a trace of amusement. It quickly vanished from her voice as she said, "Did you really think I, who was never caught by the international police, was willing to do anything for my career, and was once the most prominent pokemon hunter around, would be _able_ to die?"

"Yes," Kyle said brightly.

J raised her cannon again. Kyle shielded himself with a biology book. "I was going to read that," he said in annoyance. He pulled out a duskball. "Vulpes, join us!" His ninetales got into position.

"Volcarona, string shot," J said, hurling a pokeball at the sidewalk. An objectively ugly, flower-shaped, Unovan pokemon appeared.

"Vulpes, dodge," Kyle countered_._

Vulpes leaped into the air, leaving a sticky mess behind. "Quick attack." She sprang at Volcarona.

"Leech life," J said quietly. Volcarona was hit by quick attack, but leech life made her recover. Vulpes yelped, and Kyle noticed she was carrying one of her forepaws higher off the ground than the others.

"Firespin," he said. Volcarona was trapped in a storm of flames.

"Stringshot," J said, so fast Kyle could barely register before the spider silk came flying out.

"Dodge," he called automatically. Then he realized… Volcarona hadn't been aiming for Vulpes…

Kyle overbalanced and fell as the silk wrapped itself around him. "Flamethrower," he yelled from the ground. Vulpes flamethrew J._ I didn't tell her to do that…_ Kyle saw that J had been about to use her cannon again. Vulpes had stopped her right in time.

J re-aimed the cannon on her arm. Kyle rolled to the side and narrowly avoided being turned to stone. "Quick attack," he told Vulpes. Volcarona was knocked out of the fire spin and lay on the ground.

Kyle pulled himself into a sitting position. "Well done, Vulpes. Return." He made the duskball recall Vulpes from his belt.

A crack split the air. Kyle's head had struck the ground. Eyes watering, he looked up at J, who was pinning him to the ground. She focused her cannon right between his eyes.

"You lose," she whispered.

"Aquajet!" a voice called out.

"Volt tackle!" yelled another.

J looked up. Bad idea.

Pikachu and Daikenki slammed into her, causing her to soar across the alley into a brick wall.

"Found you right in time," Ashley said happily.

"Pikaaaa," agreed Pikachu, who'd been hiddenpowered back to life.

Ashley pulled the silk off Kyle. "Thanks," he said, sounding shaken. He looked across the alley. "Hey – where'd J go?"

J had disappeared.

* * *

><p>"I don't believe it," Mike said mildly.<p>

"What is there not to believe?" Ashley countered. "We saw her, and she nearly killed Kyle. I repeat: What the h*ll is there not to believe?"

"One: she's dead as a doornail, no reference to A Christmas Carol intended."

"Suurrrrre, Martha Cratchet," Aj smirked.

"You know what I mean. Two: she hunts pokemon, not people. And three, it's not like anyone would want us."

Ash looked at him incredulously. "You know, coming from someone who's seen you fight even without pokemon, that's really hard to believe."

"No, I don't mean it like that," Mike objected, "I mean even if someone kidnapped us or whatever, it's not like they could tell us what to do and we'd obey them."

"One," Ashley said, "She's not dead as a doornail. Two, she hunts people too. Three, I have no clue as of why someone would want us."

"Ha, see? Two out of three is like a 67%. Isn't that like a C?" Mike pointed out.

"So you admit those two were right?" Ashley caught.

Mike looked annoyed. Ashley bit her tongue; Mike's annoyed look has a way of shutting you up.

"No, that was her all right," Kyle said. "No one else is quite like her."

"Not to mention she froze Pikachu," Ash reminded them. Pikachu shocked him affectionately. "WAAAAHH!… Anyways, when I snuck onto her ship –"

"You what?" Dawn said, shocked.

"Er… snuck briefly onboard…"

"Sneaked," Ashley corrected him.

"Grammar nerd," whispered Mike.

"But anyways I overheard J saying she needed to catch four kids… And she described you guys," Ash finished.

Aj shrugged. "No big deal. We'll just watch out for salamences and airships."

"And Volcaronas," added Kyle.

"Volcano-what?" Aj interrupted.

"A pokemon from Unova," he explained. "J got one."

Dawn yawned and stretched out on the Pokemon Center's couch. "Guys, have you noticed it's eleven? You came back at ten."

Ashley glanced at the clock. "You have a point there. Night, guys."

* * *

><p>Ashley glanced at her beeping Xtranceiver. A call this late? Who would–<p>

She checked the caller's name. And checked it again.

_No way!_

Kevin Yale's face appeared on the tiny screen. "Hi Ashley!"

"Hey – What's up? I haven't seen you in forever," Ashley replied. Kevin had recently moved to Hoenn.

"I'm visiting again. Just wanted to let you know ahead."

"All right," Ashley said. "See you soon."

"Bye." The screen turned blank.

_Kevin Yale_, thought Ashley. _Ash should enjoy this._

Kevin was an aura guardian, after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, I had to bring in Kevin Yale. I've been coming up with theorems on aura for a while, and a lot of it had to do with Kevin at school. The next chapter should have a lot of that in it, but I promise there will be a fight of some sort as well. Do expect to see several terms that appear in Bleach... But they'll be used the wrong way, so I don't have to put down another topic, I guess.<strong>

**Mike played Martha Cratchet when we read A Christmas Carol in the middle of seventh grade. I just had to put that in somehow.**

**You guys better like the name Kevin Yale, since it took me FOREVER to come up with it... (darn those Indian names that you can't find a good pen name to) I'm kidding. I've got nothing against Indians.**

**IF YOU DON'T REVIEW THIS I WILL NERDIFY YOU TO DEATH**

**I have a lot of pent-up nerdy juice in me.**

**JUST REVIEW! OR ELSE!**


	7. A Shift in Reishi

Ashley stood on the balcony of the room she had in the Pokemon center. It wasn't quite daybreak yet, but the sun was tossing light over the horizon. A cool summer breeze rustled her hair.

She was remembering last night.

_…she threw a monstrous ice shard at one of the henchmen guarding the truck. He turned limp and sagged against the side of the vehicle. Her cold blue eyes looked calmly at the rest who had drawn guns, and unleashed a blizzard upon them. While they were frozen stiff, she went in the truck and untied Ash. Daikenki came out and used hiddenpower on Pikachu, who was able to move again. They all ran out, Ashley hitting a partially thawed henchman with an icebeam. The last thing she heard from them as she ran away was…_

"Go back where you came from, freak!"

She had almost always disliked her ability to transform. It made her feel unfitting with whoever she was with. That was why her friends were so special to her: Aj, Mike, Kyle, and when he was around, Kevin. She felt like she belonged more around them, since they could transform and whatnot too.

"Freak, huh?" she laughed sourly, glancing down the road that pointed to Hoenn. Kevin had promised to be there by sunrise. The sky was currently lightening at one edge, although the sun itself was yet to come.

The door to the balcony next to her slid open. She looked over to find Kyle.

"Hey," he said, looking out at the growing strip of light.

"Hey," Ashley said back. They both stood in silence*, watching the light come up.

(*awkward silence…)

"Thanks again for yesterday," Kyle said to Ashley. "I was so dead."

"You weren't dead," Ashley protested. "You were… aah… inconvenienced. Almost."

Kyle laughed. "What saved me at first was my textbooks."

"GO NERDS!" Ashley whooped, a little loudly.

An ampharos pushed open the sliding door that joined Ashley's room to the balcony. He glared at Ashley. "It's four fifty-nine. Shut up." Omega slid the door shut, probably to fall back asleep in another five seconds or so.

"Kevin's coming today," Ashley mentioned.

"Really?" Kyle was definitely interested. "Did he say why?"

Ashley shook her head. "Only that he was coming at sunrise. I'm not sure why I'm up this early, since he's always late…"

"Well, there was this one time in sixth grade when he thought our lego robotics meeting was going to start at four thirty, so he made it on time at five," Kyle said with a grin.

"He's coming earlier than usual." Apade came out on Kyle's side, yawning. "I can feel it."

"Here comes the sun," Infade alerted them, coming out of Ashley's door.

The very edge of the sun slid over the horizon. The whole sky became a mix of red, orange, and blue as the blinding ball of energy rose into the sky. When she got her vision back, Ashley looked at the path leading to Hoenn. There was a figure walking their way. Just in time.

* * *

><p>Aj stuck her head over the edge of her balcony. Seeing her friends watching the sunrise together, she smirked.<p>

_Why won't Ashley listen?_ She wondered.

* * *

><p>"All right," J growled. "We have all day today. Don't mess it up."<p>

* * *

><p>Mike blearily clumped down the stairs. If Ashley wanted him up at a quarter past five in the morning, her reason had better be good.<p>

He didn't register the jolteon on his chest until he hit the ground.

"AAAAAH – " He stopped shouting long enough to realize two things.

1) The jolteon belonged to a friend he hadn't seen in one heck of a long time.

2) Someone was laughing downstairs.

"Hey Needle," he whispered, picking up the purring jolteon. Mike looked up at Ashley and Kevin, who were cracking up.

"You'd be sleepwalking too, if you got woken up this early," Mike said defensively. "Hi Kevin."

"Hey," Kevin gasped, still laughing. "I thought you'd be able to handle Needle."

"I did. See?" Needle shocked him affectionately. Mike didn't even flinch. "Come on, Needle, if you're trying for an electric attack on me it better be good to do anything."

Aj came down from a staircase across the room. _Why does she look so smug?_ Ashley wondered, but she dismissed it.

"Where's…" Dawn began from the third floor. She stopped and rolled her eyes. "Never mind. I'll find him."

"Who?" Kevin called back up.

"Ash," Kyle told him. "Any minute now we'll be hearing –"

**ZZZZZZZZZZZZTT!**

"YEOWWW!"

"That," Aj finished for him.

Kevin focused on the direction where Ash's yell had come from. He suddenly looked shocked. "He obviously just got zapped, so that presence is him. Wow." Kevin seemed impressed. "Has he had any training with aura?"

"Nope," Dawn said, reappearing with Ash right behind her. "He told me about something or other that happened in Hoenn, though, right before he came to Sinnoh."

Ash nodded, fully awake. "The Tree of Beginning. A lucario helped me learn that I could use aura if I tried."

"I could train you more, if you like," Kevin said.

Ash grinned eagerly. "Really? That would be awesome!"

Pikachu hopped on his shoulder. "Kachu!" He said enthusiastically.

"You should do it outside, though," Kyle commented, coming up from behind Dawn. "Unless you want to pay for the chandelier," he added, indicating a glittering ball of glass above their heads.

"Let's go!" whooped Ash, running down the stairs and through the door. Kevin was right on his heels.

"Something very unusual just happened here," Dawn stated.

"What's that?" Aj asked.

"Ash just turned away from breakfast."

* * *

><p>Outside, Kevin was showing Ash the basics. "All right. So there are different layers to aura. First off is the outer layer, Reiatsu. It's how the being influences their surroundings. You with me so far?"<p>

"No."

Kevin sighed. "Reiatsu… It's like what someone radiates. If they radiate reassurance or confidence, that's Reiatsu. It generally influences whoever's around them."

"Ohhh," said Ash. "So if a person is energetic and makes the people around them energetic, they're spreading their Reiatsu?"

"Exactly," Kevin nodded. "Reiatsu always influences the people around the being, whether for the better or for the worse. It extends pretty far out, but it's temporary and changes often, since it often matches the being's mood. However, it may be false or faked by someone who's good at hiding their emotions. The next layer in is Hakudo, which is harder to explain… There's a different one for each being that another being knows."

Ash didn't get it at all.

"So you have a person – let's say you. And your friend Dawn knows you pretty well. Pikachu knows you too, but in a completely different way. That's Hakudo, and everyone senses yours in a different way. It's much more long-term, but changes along with the relationship between you and others."

Ash nodded. "What's the next layer?"

"The next one isn't really a layer. It's Ability. If the being happens to be a Pokemon, the Ability has a name given to them by humans. It's really ironic that we chose to name their Abilities and not ours," Kevin laughed. "Sometimes people notice things that aren't right extremely quickly; That's an Ability. Others can easily talk to anyone they try. Sometimes the Ability is more physical. Another thing that's not a layer is Reiraku, sort of like extended aura, which affects relationships and can be used by an aura guardian for communication or a sixth sense."

Kevin looked up at the rising sun. The sky had turned mostly blue by now. "The last two are the very innermost layers. They're called Shikai and Bankai, and they go hand in hand."

Ash watched Kevin, whose face was thoughtful, as if lost in a memory. "Shikai is rarely seen. It's a being's true self, not influenced by anything at all, ever. It only ever changes up to age five. When they reach that age, their Shikai rarely changes again. They may not show what their Shikai is like in their lifetime, but it's there.

"Bankai is a deviation of Shikai. It's the reaction to something important to a being's Shikai. So, um," Kevin pondered for a moment. "Let's say a girl's Reiatsu is kind of mean, her Hakudo towards most people is a bit of a bully at times, her Ability is Sneakiness, but her Shikai is worrisome, scared, and caring, because her mom has cancer. Then her mom dies, and her Bankai could be a number of things. She could become a huge crybaby, or she could suddenly become really friendly, or her Bankai could be compressed into one part of her life, like maybe she doesn't change in her school life, but cries around everyone else. There are infinite Bankai for a Shikai, and I guess you could say there is only one of each Bankai and Shikai. Bankai is usually huge and impacts one or more beings."

Ash was quiet. Kevin seemed… was there even a word for it? Like he was remembering something painful…

Kevin straightened up. "That takes care of the basics. Let's move on to the interesting stuff.

* * *

><p>Dawn watched Ash from their room's balcony on the fourth floor. He looked like he was having fun – he was dodging rocks coming in from behind. Kevin threw stones at Ash's back, which he was supposed to avoid. She wasn't sure what it was for, but she figured it made him focus or something. It sure looked fun to do… yet it got boring to watch…<p>

_So why am I still watching_?

Maybe it was Kevin. After they had gotten up and begun the physical training, Kevin had become more outgoing and cheerful. He was really funny when the others were around (Dawn hadn't gone up close yet). But from what she could see, Kevin was really friendly…

_Oh. That explains it._

Dawn relaxed, all worries put aside. Kevin was so much like Kenny, who she hadn't seen in half a year, that she had started missing him. _Well, that's good_, Dawn thought to herself, _Now I know what's going on here._

Kevin got hit by one of the pebbles he was throwing. But he was throwing them at Ash… Not only had Ash successfully managed to dodge it with his back turned, he had deflected it… Mentally, by the looks of things. Kevin really looked pleased, even as a larger rock hit him in the face.

Ow.

* * *

><p>By that evening, Ash was almost as good as an experienced aura guardian… According to Kevin, that is. He was able to construct shields, sense anyone anywhere, and once in a while read minds. Aj found it extremely creepy that he could read hers every time he tried.<p>

"What's she thinking now?" Ashley asked him. Aj glared at her.

Ash looked at Aj. "She says shut up."

Mike laughed and handed her the pot of soup they were having for dinner. "Wouldn't you feel pissed if someone could read your mind?" he pointed out.

"Of course. I'm just taking this advantage as payback," Ashley replied, leaning back in her chair.

"Payback?" Kyle repeated.

*&^%, Ashley thought, stealing a glance at Aj. Aj, meanwhile, was distracted by the soup.

"What's in this?" she asked.

"Vegetarian plus moomoo milk," Kevin said. "I can't figure out who would come up with a name like moomoo milk."

"Yeah, well, who would look at a miltank and think 'Hey, let's see what happens when we squeeze the pink dangly things and drink what comes out!" Aj said.

"They probably died of indigestion," Kevin said.

* * *

><p>Ashley had an extreme case of insomnia. It could have been because it was so hot outside. It could have been because she was stuck on how to make a new battle style work. It could have been because she just wanted to climb a tree. She didn't actually know why, but something had been bothering her lately. And she didn't have the slightest idea of what it might be.<p>

"Chira?"

Ashley jumped; She had not been expecting that. "Chira," she hissed. "Don't do that."

"My fault, not hers." Kevin fell from the branch above onto the one Ashley was sitting on. "What's up? Something bothering you?" he asked. His pachirisu jumped onto his shoulder.

"Not really," Ashley half lied. Did it count as nothing bothering you if you didn't know what it was?

"How's Ash doing?" she changed the topic.

"Great. He's done all that I can teach him." Kevin paused. "Now I'm wondering if Aj should get trained."

"Aj?" Ashley said with a jolt. "Really?"

Kevin nodded. "I think Ash might be able to read her mind because of it. Did you notice how Ash said her thoughts as if she were talking to him?"

Ashley considered it.

"_She says shut up…"_

Ashley nodded. "What about it?"

"That's basic communication through Hakudo. It's considered basic because you don't have complete control over it, like if you accidentally think something you didn't want them to know, they'll still hear it. But it's still Hakudo – sort of an extended aura – and she was doing it pretty well. I could hear her loud and clear."

"Don't you need training or something to do that?" Ashley pointed out. "I mean, it's not like you're just born knowing how…"

"Exactly," Kevin said with a grin. "It's amazing she knows that already. Ash took hours to learn that."

"What do you do," Ashley said suddenly, "as an aura guardian?"

"You go around and look for disturbances in the Reishi," Kevin said. "There's a pattern to aura in general, and when there's a disturbance, something huge is going wrong. Otherwise, you connect with the world more and make it a better place."

"Why Hoenn?"

Kevin shrugged. "There's not many aura guardians in Hoenn, and I thought I sensed a shift in that direction…"

"Thought?" Ashley inquired.

Kevin looked uneasy. "Uh, well, I arrived there and everything was fine…"

"Why did you move then?"

Kevin looked up. "I stayed there for a year or two to check that everything was all right –"

"Idiot," Ashley said calmly.

"What makes me an idiot?" Kevin shot.

"Did it ever occur to you that you weren't just another kid to us? You were more than that; you were like us. It's not really easy being so dang different, and then 20% of the population like us moved away."

"Yeah, well, I'm not an idiot – "

"You don't even get it, do you?"

"I get it, I'm just not an idiot."

"Not listening," Ashley sang.

"Well, okay, I am listening. But really, just because I had to leave doesn't mean the sun supernovaed on you."

"You still don't get it." Ashley pushed his shoulder, accidentally knocking him onto the branch beneath them.

"CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Chira screamed, unleashing a discharge at the untransformed Ashley.

"Chira, don't do that," Kevin said, pulling himself up.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to do that," Ashley said, offering her hand to Kevin and zapping him from the leftover static.

"AAH!"

**THUD!**

"Chi?"

Both of them fell out of the tree.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's chapter 7! Wow...I took so long...<strong>

**The example in Shikai is a tribute to my friend whose mom passed away. A lot of people didn't like her much, but she could be pretty nice. She never once showed on the outside that anything was wrong, except at the memorial service which I couldn't attend because it was during school hours. She's moved away and I don't see her much anymore, but she and her mom are still in our hearts.**

**Part of the reason I put Kevin in was because he's moving this summer. This (I have no idea how) made me feel better. He won't be a huge character in this story, but remember the aura terms... You might have guessed I got them all from Bleach, which I've started reading.**

**Since I put SOOOO much effort into this chapter (aka took 3 weeks) you should review...right?**


	8. The memory Kevin wishes he didn't have

**Happy day after July fourth! I know not everyone on Fanfiction is American, but as far as I can tell, everyone reading Eyes of a Dragon is. Enjoy, and prove to me you enjoyed it by reviewing. XD but seriously review.**

* * *

><p>"You said what?" J spat in shock.<p>

"A fantastic place," her henchman said, his mouth watering, "With all the ramen you can eat – Anyone would be distracted." The other henchmen all nodded in agreement.

"And that's why you didn't capture a single one?"

He nodded crisply.

"I see." J casually gazed out the window. "Does 'Get a life' mean anything to you?"

* * *

><p>"wahooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo…"<p>

"What the hell was that?" Aj said, training with Kevin.

**WHOOSH!**

"And THIS is why we need to go flying more often," Sagitta shouted over the wind.

"We? Who's we? You're the one with wings right now," Ashley yelled back.

"Close enough," Sagitta yelled. She spun upside down, twirled in midair, and shot like her namesake, the arrow, right into –

**WHAM!**

"Ow," Sagitta said. Ashley looked up.

"Oh, crap."

The red aerodactyl booted up for a hyperbeam.

"Brave bird!" Ashley shouted.

Sagitta flared up with energy and rammed into the aerodactyl. Startled, he continued charging the hyperbeam and released it at Sagitta. Ashley looked at her latias. Sagitta was still suffering from recoil.

_I didn't want to do this_… Ashley thought with a sigh. Within three seconds, she sent Sagitta flying out of the way, transformed into dragon mode, and took a direct hit.

The aerodactyl roared in triumph. Sagitta looked back at the cloud produced by the explosion.

"Crap," Sagitta said, scanning the cloud for anything living. In the center was a shadow… When the dust cleared, Sagitta saw that Ashley had folded her wings in front of her, blocking the attack. Ashley blew open her wings and zoomed directly at the aerodactyl. She swiped her arm through the air, shooting a ripple of pink energy at the aerodactyl.

_I didn't know she could use special rend…_ Sagitta thought in awe.

The aerodactyl screeched and bit her with firefang. Ashley brushed it aside and special rended him in the face.

**BOOM!**

_Epic. Fricking. Win._

* * *

><p>"YEAH! I PWN!" Aj shouted. She'd just constructed an aurasphere. Gleefully, she shot it randomly forward.<p>

"OW!"

Aj blinked and saw Ashley rubbing her head. "Oops! Sorry." Then she saw wings. "Why are you in dragon mode?"

"An aerodactyl attacked us," Ashley shrugged.

"A red one?"

Ashley jumped. "Yeah! Do you know him?"

"Me? No."

"She can use frickin' special rend," Sagitta squeaked. She was in so much shock, Ashley had to drag her all the way there.

"It's a dragon move. Sure I can use it." Ashley looked at Kevin in exasperation. "Latii these days."

Kevin stared at Sagitta in confusion. "Wait – You're a legendary pokemon and you're surprised you know someone who can do a legendary move?"

"Yeah! Palkia don't reproduce like latii, so there's only one! Meanwhile there are several latii of each gender in the world."

"Several?" Aj pointed out.

Sagitta gave up.

"How's this for legendary?" Aj said, making another aurasphere.

"Careful!" Kevin said.

**BOOM!**

"Very legendary, Aj," Ashley coughed.

"You need to control it more." Kevin demonstrated with a steady sphere. "Concentrate on it."

"All right." Aj got ready. Sagitta hid behind Ashley.

"Come on back," Ashley sighed, putting Sagitta in her pokeball.

**BOOM!**

"Maybe I should try it in the forest," Aj suggested.

"Maybe," said Kevin, who was now covered in dirt.

* * *

><p><em>In the forest:<em>

**BOOM!**

"I'm getting a sense of déjà vu today, and it's not funny," huffed Aj. She tried making another one…_ don't explode, don't explode, don't explode…_

It vanished.

"WHERE THE HELL DID MY PERFECT AURASPHERE GO?" she shouted. She made another, which did the same. Aj had enough sense to look around her for the place her auraspheres had disappeared to.

She looked up.

**BOOM!**

* * *

><p>"Got her!" Folii yelled triumphantly from the helicopter. They were just high enough for the girl to have noticed nothing.<p>

"Remind me again…?" the old man next to her whispered. He was feeling ill.

"AI YAH," Folii groaned. With a patient smile on her face, she repeated, "We need the four of them to fulfill the prophecy. It's much easier to do it this way than to just kill them. Remember?"

"Ah," Smokelius said, the information he'd heard dawning on him. "But aren't there five items?"

"We haven't quite figured out the dark's brightest light yet," Folii admitted. "Soon, though, we'll have a heart of steel." She turned back to the windshield. "WHAT THE F-"

**BOOM!**

"Way to go, Flit," Aj yelled up at her masquerain. "Silverwind!" Flit blew glittering silver crescents at the helicopter, which quickly flew away.

"Thanks," Aj said, bringing Flit back. She looked at the retreating helicopter. "What was that all about?" she mused. She shrugged. "Oh well. At least now I can use aurasphere."

* * *

><p>"Are you guys all trying to pull a prank on me or something?" Mike asked suspiciously. "Crazy powers or not, I seriously don't think anyone would want to kidnap us that bad."<p>

"I'm serious, it was the same technique Ashley told me Maylene told her!" Aj insisted.

"Huh?" Mike said, bewildered.

"Stealing the power from aurasphere and using it on the one who used it. It's like bide, but they're not getting damaged," Ashley explained.

"There are people called pokemon thieves," Mike began. "And then there are paranoid humans who obviously aren't some super-rare pokemon."

Ashley opened her mouth to protest, but Kyle said quietly, "No, he'll see them eventually."

Ashley closed her mouth. Kyle's quiet logic defeated her once again.

Kevin opened the door to Kyle's room. "Hey. I'm just saying bye now."

"Already?" Mike asked.

Kevin nodded. "There's something going on in Hoenn. The Reishi's going nuts – well, see you guys."

The four teenagers said bye to their friend without any emotion. Kevin left.

Aj flopped backwards onto the bed. "I'm so bored."

"You know what I've been thinking for a while?" Kyle spoke up. "We could have a battle."

"It took you 'a while' to think of something that normal?" Mike said incredulously.

"Not a pokemon battle. A battle between us. Just to train, in case those adults –"

"Not them again."

"In case they spring something on us again," Kyle finished.

"That sounds kind of interesting," Ashley decided.

"Come on," Aj said to Mike, who was stubbornly keeping his theories.

"There's no point," he shrugged.

"Be that way," Aj replied, creating an aurasphere in her palms.

"ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT!" Mike yelled, sprinting past Ashley and Kyle.

* * *

><p>Kevin was using his lucario-like ability to run at superspeed (although this is unrelated, I think Ichigo would call it Shunpo). He was thinking of why he had really come to Hoenn in the first place.<p>

-flashback-

_An explosion blew Kevin into a lamppost in the deserted, moonlit street. What the hell was going on? He saw her facing the kidnapper with pure hatred in her eyes. Her face was twisted with menace, and everything from her hair, clothes, and eyes shimmered silver and blue. Kevin had of course heard of this. But he'd never seen it before._

"_Bankai," he breathed._

_To be honest, it wasn't normal Bankai. There's mental Bankai, there's physical Bankai (which only happens if someone with elemental powers want to use it), and then there's what you get if you combine both. What his friend was expressing was both at once._

_The muscle-bound man brought out a pocketknife. She easily knocked it away with a flash cannon that nearly brought the man's hand off. Kevin ducked and the flying pocketknife narrowly missed his head. He was still tied up, so he couldn't do anything but watch and hope nothing too extreme happened._

_What happened next was along the lines of "too extreme." The girl conjured a whirlpool and nearly drowned the man. She hit him with a bubblebeam that was harder than the average hyperbeam, blasting him back into a warehouse. Her entire right fist turned gold and she prepared to use meteor mash._

_Kevin knew (not just because he was an aura guardian) that the next hit would blast the man into molecules. His vocal chords were frozen in place, but she wouldn't really kill someone… kidnapper or not… right?_

_Her fist swung forward, and Kevin watched as the man who'd abducted him exploded in a burst of gold light and red mist. She turned around and approached Kevin, who halfway expected her to abolish his existence too. Instead, she started to untie him. "Are you all right?" she wanted to know._

"_I'm fine," Kevin lied._

_Aj was still in double Bankai. She didn't notice._

Kevin shuddered at the memory. She hadn't done it because she liked him: she didn't. It was simply because she was one of his friends. And she wasn't the one who knew him best. If it had been, say, Mike, would it have been worse?

Kevin hadn't stayed around to find out.

* * *

><p>"I'm not beating up a guy," Ashley protested.<p>

"I'm not beating up a girl," Mike added.

Aj looked in exasperation at Kyle. "Does that leave you and me?"

Kyle smiled. "Ladies first, right?"

"That works too," Ashley decided. She ran to the other side of the grass field. "Ready," she called back to Aj.

"One, two," Aj yelled.

"Three!"

Both of their outlines faded and they emerged from the refracted blur transformed. Ashley had chosen ice; Aj was steel.

"YOU SUCK!" Ashley yelled at Aj while Mike cracked up. "I thought you'd go with water!"

Aj laughed. "You can't always win," she shouted back. "Like when you don't stall."

Ashley flared up. Aj was referring to how in a team competition, Ashley hadn't taken her time giving an answer. It gave the other team enough time to pull ahead with the last question, as well as something for Aj to constantly bug Ashley about.

"Oh, I get it," Ashley said after a few seconds. "You're trying to get me all upset. NOT WORKING! Am I right?"

"Maybe," Aj replied evasively.

Aj and Ashley continued to argue for a while, and Mike was getting impatient.

"What's taking so long?" he wondered out loud.

Kyle knew Ashley well enough to know that she couldn't help but try to have the last word, no matter what. Aj, however, had nothing stopping her, and would have sprung forward by now, especially since Ashley was distracted. So why…?

Kyle spotted what Aj was up to right around then. He opened his mouth to yell out a warning to Ashley, but Mike clapped his hand over it.

"It's their fight," he reminded Kyle, not removing his hand. "This is," Mike said with grim amusement, "a good experience for Ashley."

Ashley was across the field, scanning the other side for a good point to attack from. There wasn't anything that seemed particularly useful… Suddenly Aj tripped and Ashley sprinted across the field with an ice punch ready. It took her a while (way too long) to remember that Aj hadn't had anything to really trip over, because she hadn't been moving. Not to mention –

_HOLY CRAP_.

Aj's right hand looked like solid bronze that glowed intense yellow. Her left fingers glinted like iron. Barely inches from her mouth sat the beginning of a beam of liquid silver, and her head was surrounded in a helmet of white light. She was using meteor mash, iron claw, focus blast, and iron head all at the same time, having loaded up while Ashley had still been at the other side of the field.

Ashley halfheartedly hit Aj with her ice punch, which looked lame compared to what Aj did a split second later. Another second after that, Ashley found herself flying to the other side of the clearing, focus blast urging her along. She finally dropped and rolled another ten feet. Ashley was completely still.

"Sh*t," Mike whispered in amazement. His hand dropped from Kyle's mouth.

"Should I have said something?" Kyle muttered.

Aj strode across the field, not worried too much about Ashley's health. Lynches healed fast. She just wanted to know if Ashley'd given up yet. Aj leaned over her limp friend.

And got smacked in the face.

Ashley got unsteadily to her feet, watching Aj feel her frozen, bloody nose. Immediately, she used ice beam to freeze the rest of her. The ice shattered soon after and Aj seemed mostly unaffected. Ashley pointed to a spot right above Aj's head. Icy rocks avalanched on her, but Aj knocked a few away and started to use bullet punch. Ashley frantically dodged most of them, but some made their mark. Aj was powering up again for meteor mash.

Ashley did her last resort: sheer cold.

It missed.

Aj's meteor mash hit and she fell backwards. She blasted a last minute ice shard in Aj's face, which was one of those not-very-effective-critical hits. Aj was about to use iron head when Ashley pointed straight up.

The avalanche of ice rocks that followed completely covered them both.

* * *

><p>"Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t..." Toxica muttered repeatedly, as if it was a chant to help Smokelius. "Stupid old age…"<p>

"Toxica," he gasped. "Why is it so dark?"

"Oh, sh*t," Toxica hissed. "Foliare, can't you do something?"

"I've tried aromatherapy, I've leech seeded myself, I've even use a hyper potion. Nothing's worked," Folii sighed. "This is not. Looking good."

Smokelius moaning, "So dark…" punctured their silence.

"We should start looking for a new admin," Toxica said briskly.

"That we should," Folii admitted. "I wonder what type… We haven't had a normal type before, or bug, and our last rock was…"

Smokelius inhaled sharply. "I see it."

"You see what?" Folii asked anxiously.

"It's so dark. But I see it… such a bright light… beautiful." With that, he took a final breath.

"He saw what?" Folii said shakily.

"You've never heard of the phrase, "I see the light?" snapped Toxica. "He must have seen…" Astonishment broke out on her face. "Ohmygosh." A euphoric grin spread on her mouth. "I've got it."

"What?" Folii asked excitedly. "Come on."

Toxica looked at Folii in triumph. "I know the answer."

"To what?" Folii said, getting mad. "Look, if you don't, I'll paralyze you like I did to Crateron yesterday."

"The dark's brightest light will end the fight."

* * *

><p><strong>AND NOW IT'S DONE! If you don't know what the heck Toxica's talking about here^, look at chapter 3.<strong>

**A story my teacher told me:**

Once there was a philosophy exam. The essay question was "Prove that this review exists," and there was a review for Eyes of a Dragon on his desk.

The first person to finish took 10 seconds. He wrote:

"What review?"

**You know, there's only 5 reviews and 3 ppl reviewing. PROVE THAT THIS EXISTS!**

**(The original story was actually a chair)**


	9. Snowpoint is boring?

Mike wasn't transformed or anything, but he was still able to haul the enormous ice boulders off… more… enormous ice boulders.

"Mike, stop showing off," Kyle told him. He went into psychic mode and lifted the entire pile with psychic.

"And that's not showing off?" pointed out Mike. He looked down. "It's a draw."

Ashley and Aj were both on the ground, unconscious.

Ashley's eyes flew open. "Was not! I stayed conscious longer than her in there."

"No you didn't," Aj argued, sitting up. "I won that."

"Did not."

"You did!"

"This is already getting nowhere," groaned Mike. "Our turn yet?"

"Finally!" Kyle whooped (even though I can't imagine him whooping).

"And if Ashley tries to help you, I'll stop her," Aj said to Kyle.

"Um… thanks?" Kyle replied, looking at Ashley.

Ashley reached back.

**SMACK!**

_Another epic win!_

"What was that all about?" Kyle wondered.

* * *

><p>"One."<p>

"Two."

"THREE!"

On Kyle's side, a ripple of orange-brown energy appeared. On Mike's, the ripple was bright yellow.

"Darn it," Mike muttered as soon as he saw Kyle in his fighting form. "I knew I should have gone with flying."

"It's more interesting this way," Kyle said, drawing his sword. It was long and slim, curved only slightly and very light. "Ready, set, go." He swung the sword through the air, launching a vacuum wave at Mike. Mike thrust his arms forward, returning with a charge beam. The moves collided and exploded, neither one actually touching the opponent.

"Nice power there," Kyle commented.

"You worked on that vacuum wave behind my back, huh?" Mike yelled back across the field. "Just for that…" He pointed at Kyle, who grimaced. Ashley frowned on the sidelines. It hadn't seemed to do anything…

"Don't worry. I won't beat you up too bad," Mike "reassured" him, charging himself with electricity. _Kyle could have attacked_, Ashley thought, _but he's just standing there. WTF?_

Kyle's hands shook as he raised his sword above his head. The look on his face showed it was a huge effort. Mike thunderpunched him. Kyle swung the sword down, using sacred sword.

Ashley finally saw the small electric shocks coursing through him. _Duh_, she thought, _Mike paralyzed him_. Kyle whirled the sword at Mike, this time using secret sword, which hit Mike on the shoulder. Mike finished their battle with thunderbolt, knocking Kyle to the ground. The fighting-type's eyes were closed.

Mike turned and looked at the girls. "I probably didn't need to take it that far, huh?" he admitted.

"You did great," confirmed Aj. "Paralyzing him at the right moment…"

"Ow," said Ashley, "I think he's still paralyzed." Even though Kyle was on the ground, he was oddly stiff. Aj watched her walk over, bend down, and hand him a berry. She couldn't help smiling to herself as Ashley helped Kyle up. Ashley said something to Kyle and started walking over to Aj. She raised her hand.

**WHACK!**

"What!"

**WHACK!**

"Is!"

**WHACK!**

"Your!"

**WHACK!**

"Problem!"

* * *

><p>When Aj had recovered a little, they headed back to the pokemon center.<p>

"Are you the arcade star?" Nurse Joy asked Aj. Aj nodded.

"You have ten challengers waiting for you at the arcade."

"Cr*p," Aj said under her breath. She looked at them. "I gotta go." She walked back out the door.

Nurse Joy recognized who her companions were and checked for their messages. "Let's see… Ashley, you have five at the battle castle, and the champions… There's two trainers trying to get through."

"Thanks," Mike said. They all headed back out again.

"See you guys later," Ashley said, tossing out Sagitta's pokeball.

"Bye," Kyle yelled up. The guys watched the latias and trainer fly away.

Ashley looked back just in time to see the co-champions leave on a togekiss and latios. Her thoughts were interrupted by –

"Pleeeeeeeeeease?" Sagitta wheedled.

Ashley gripped Sagitta's wings. "Yes."

Sagitta broke the sound barrier.

* * *

><p><em>several days later…<em>

Aj sighed tiredly. She'd finally beaten the tenth challenger. Not a single one had gotten past the Arcade Star. She placed Luoir's ultraball on the healing machine. Only Luoir had been needed for the last battle.

A knock sounded from behind her. Aj turned around and found herself face to face with Candice. "Hey there. Could you help me with something?"

"Depends. Luoir is healing right now."

"Oh. It's in Snowpoint," Candice told her. "How long will the healing take?"

Aj examined the ultraball. "She doesn't have much damage on her. She'll be done within five minutes. So what's going on?"

Candice leaned against the doorframe. "Well, have you heard how Roark and I are going out?"

"No."

"Right. Well... we are. So he came to Snowpoint and naturally started excavating I don't know what –"

"Is digging that interesting?" Aj said in disbelief.

"No, but no one's around, so Snowpoint's boring. ANYWAYS, he found an underground building that was totally off the radar, and he thinks you might have something to do with it."

"He thinks _I_ did it?"

"Just passing on the message."

"I'm coming."

"You'll investigate?"

"No." Aj took Luoir's ultraball off the machine. "I need to beat up your boyfriend."

* * *

><p>It was her last battle for the day, and Ashley was starting to think that not healing any of her pokemon had been a bad idea. Both her and the girl across from her were down to one, Sola versus ludicolo.<p>

"Stone edge," she said out loud.

"Water gun," the girl called.

"Are you expecting a head on attack?" Ashley scoffed.

"Huh…?"

Sola manually dodged the water gun rather than let the stone edge hit it. Instead, her stone edge careened around and hit the ludicolo.

"This is it! Solarbeam!" shouted the girl.

"Head on attack it is," Ashley murmured. Sola smirked and got ready for stone edge. She released it the moment the ludicolo let go of his solarbeam. A massive explosion filled the air, creating a cloud of dust.

Sola knew what to do.

"WHAT THE –" the girl shouted. The blizzard that her opponent's absol started was mixed with the dust?

"Finish with fire blast," Ashley said above the wind.

**CRASH!**

_Ludicolo is unable to battle!_

"You're not bad, really," Ashley told her. "What you need is a real strategy. Not just launch moves left and right."

"Sure," the girl said, sounding depressed. Ashley noticed for the first time that she had silver hair streaked with red. "Thanks anyways."

The double doors crashed open.

"Sorry I'm late," a girl around eleven years old panted. "Did you just finish your battle? Is it my turn?"

Ashley and the other girl looked at her blankly.

The smaller girl continued. "I told the guys at the battle frontier that I'd be late, so they said, 'you can be last challenger,' and I was so relieved –"

"Weren't you the last challenger?" Ashley interrupted.

"Oops." Her previous challenger's face twisted into a grin. "There goes my cover."

She casually tossed a pokeball with a caterpie inside. The caterpie was so tiny, Ashley wasn't afraid at all that he was inching up to her. She saved him the trouble of going another ten feet and walked right up to him. The caterpie smiled up at her and used string shot on her bare feet.

"Oh, cr*p!" Ashley yelled. The caterpie's trainer performed an action familiar to Ashley. Energy swirled around her body, shimmering with orange flames. She emerged from the cocoon wearing a blazing red cloak and radiating heat. Ashley was still struggling to get the silk off her feet.

"How's it going?" the girl asked calmly.

"Really well, thanks," Ashley snarled. "Who are you, anyways?"

"Fyr. A Lynch."

"What sort of name is that?"

"Lynch is more of a title. You're one too."

Ashley's eyes bugged out. "There's a name for it? And you're one too?"

"Duh. Now can I _please_ pwn you?"

Ashley had gotten the threads off her feet. She quickly and efficiently became a dragon, taking off into the air above Fyr. "You're not supposed to ask someone if you can pwn them," she said. "You're supposed to just pwn them. No asking involved."

Fyr spun her hands in all directions, shooting fire wherever they pointed. The battlefield lit up like a torch.

"IDIOT! WHAT KIND OF PWNING INVOLVES DESTROYING THE BUILDING?"

"I wasn't going to tell you, but the only form you have to stop the fire is ice, where you ice it over and it melts into water. You'd be in ice, which is my advantage," Fyr explained.

"Cr*p," said Ashley. The battle castle was getting burnt… she had no other choice.

So she turned into ice form, saved the castle, and got pwned.

**JUST KIDDING!**

What really happened was she used draco meteor.

"Oh! So it's defeat me and destroy the castle, huh?" Fyr jeered. The grin was wiped off her face when the draco meteor rocketed through the ceiling. "Uh, you have a different plan in mind, don't you?"

"No, DUH."

The draco meteor activated the sprinkler system.

"Who was supposed to pwn the other, again?" Ashley asked Fyr.

She facepalmed when she realized Fyr was already gone.

"Can we battle now?" The other girl had been standing on the side the whole time.

"Yeah. Three on three."

" 'Kay."

* * *

><p>Candice and Aj arrived in Snowpoint later that afternoon. "All right, where's Roark?" Aj immediately wanted to know.<p>

"Over here," Candice said, directing her to a spot behind the gym, where there was a giant hole. A ladder sank into the darkness. "Hey Roark!"

There was no answer.

Candice stuck her head in. "Hellooooo? Aj's here and she's ready to beat you up – uh, I mean…"

"Good save," commented Aj.

"Shut up. Just go on down, he's in there somewhere."

Aj climbed down the ladder. Roark hadn't put any light sources in the tunnel; she lit a softball-sized aurasphere to brighten it. Partly from her aura training and partly from Candice breathing down her neck, she could tell the Snowpoint gym leader was curious about the blue light. But she kept it hidden.

Soon Aj was heard footsteps. Roark came around the corner with papers in his hands. He was a lot dirtier than when Aj had challenged him in Oreburgh when she was ten.

"Oh, hey," he said, shining his flashlight on them. "Glad you could make it, Aj."

Aj smiled sweetly at him, reached back, and –

**SMACK!**

"Okay, why the h*ll do you think I did this?"

Roark looked startled. "I never said that. I just thought you might know who did make this place."

"Why, exactly?" Aj said in a dangerous tone.

"Because of this!" Roark peeled a spiralbound notebook off the pile of papers in his arms and gave it to her. "It's a journal."

Aj opened to a page with a tab on it.

_We created new Lynches today. Fyr, the female, is part fire, part rock, and the male, Iro, is metal and bug. The amazing thing is, while Iro –_

"Iro what?" Aj asked Roark.

"They left off writing there," Roark said, "but aren't you a…" He looked at the entry. "Lynch?"

"What the heck is a –"

"Haven't you ever done the 'making inferences' thing in your English class?" Roark asked her. "It looks like a Lynch is someone with elemental pieces coded into their genes."

"Elemental pieces?"

"I made it up, it's bits of DNA with the coding for one or more elements…"

"No, I mean you couldn't come up with a better term for it?" (Roark whacked her over the head) "But anyways, it looks like you know I am one –"

"Bingo!" Roark shouted, looking pleased. "I knew you'd get it…eventually."

"Does everyone know?"

"Just the gym leaders, elite four, et cetera. Only the ones who see you and your friends enough to know something's funny."

"Wow. You guys even know that _they're_ elementally genetic?"

"Mike, Kyle, and Ashley, right?" Aj nodded. "Yep."

Aj thought this over. "But why are we like that?" she mused.

"First of all, do you know who made this place?" Roark reminded her.

"Probably the same guys who (she referred back to the journal) created these Lynches."

"No, duh."

"I have an idea, but it might not be related!" Aj said defensively.

"Yes?"

"Some random guys who were stealing the Sunyshore and Veilstone energy."

"I heard about that from Volkner," Roark admitted. "All right. And your other question – I was hoping to look into that."

"You know how to look into genes?"

Roark looked annoyed. "Just because I'm the first gym leader doesn't mean I can't do anything. Fossils. Radioactive dating. Chemistry. _Genetics_."

"Okay. Lemme guess, skin test?"

"Yeah."

"Sure. I really want to know what the h*ll I am."

* * *

><p>Ashley handed over the only symbol of the day; she'd been too distracted to pay attention to the battle. She almost put her pokeballs in the sink afterwards (On top of an Ace Trainer's moldy pepperoni. EW!). The pokeballs did end up on the healing tray – eventually.<p>

_I need to get to the battle arcade_, Ashley thought. _Aj will want to know this_.

She went for a walk, leaving her pokeballs locked inside the room. A breeze stirred the leaves in swirls. The sky was deep blue, and orange along one edge. No one was at the battle frontier anymore: everyone had gone home.

As she walked toward the arcade, she thought about Fyr. _Was she one of the ones who were trying to kidnap them? How many of them were there anyways?_ She snorted at her next thought: _Would Mike ever see one of them? But why did she have the same sort of power as the rest of them?_

**TOO MANY QUESTIONS!**

"She's not here," an Ace Trainer told her as she approached the arcade. "Aj went to Snowpoint."

"Oh," Ashley was surprised. "Did she tell you why?"

The trainer laughed. "I work at the battle tower." She walked away.

Ashley headed back towards the battle castle. _Darn… why'd I have to leave my pokeballs back there?_ She got them quickly and flew away on Sagitta.

And yes, Sagitta immediately broke the sound barrier.

* * *

><p><strong>Finally done! As always, please review.<strong>

**I was thinking about this yesterday: I ought to sort of "thank" the people whose names I borrowed. So thanks to Ashley Z, Michael T, AJ D, Kyle S, and Kevin E for "letting" me use your names.**

**I need a ghost pokemon to hypnotize you into reviewing.**

**Ehh... Just review.**


	10. Mike buys a hyper potion

Aj was sitting in the back room of the Snowpoint gym, where normally no one was allowed. Roark and Candice were discussing her genes in a way that even she couldn't understand… It might even have been gibberish to Kyle. Well, maybe not Kyle.

The first test had been a complete failure. While they had found out her skin had more water and metals in her than most humans, they somehow couldn't find her DNA in it. Aj barely kept a straight face when Roark had to remind Candice why they couldn't find her DNA in her blood ("Crap. No nucleus."). Hair would have been the next option just for availability. The problem? No DNA there either. It was the same for finger and toenails. The two gym leaders had all but given up, and were staring at the magnified skin cell on the computer screen.

"Wait a minute!" Candice zoomed in on a small point in the picture. "Look at this!"

Aj squinted at the blurry image. It was one of the places they said had more water and metal. Now–

"Is that a double helix?" Roark pushed his glasses farther up his nose.

"Yeah! Maybe that is her DNA! Look, instead of deoxyribose on the sides, it's… holy cr*p… iron?"

"What normally would be nitrogen bases are mainly water," Roark determined. "With… heh… other metals."

"What other metals?" Aj asked, interested.

"Tungsten," Candice showed the atomic structure, "This one has nickel and chromium. Its pair has manganese and carbon. The other base has vanadium."

"In other words, all metals that can be alloyed with iron to make some type of steel," pointed out Roark.

"That's so weird," Aj said, who was starting to get seriously creeped out by her own genetic makeup.

"But you're half water, half steel, right?" Candice confirmed. Aj nodded. "So maybe if your friends have DNA with their own things…"

"Are you saying Mike's DNA can fly, Kyle's genes are psychic, and Ashley's DNA is made of 'dark'?"

"Ehh… No. But Mike's DNA could have… aah… feathers…"

"Right. But why are we that way?" Aj continued.

"I don't have a guess," Roark shrugged. He turned to Candice.

"Me neither," she agreed.

"Thanks anyways," Aj replied. "Am I done then?" Roark nodded. "Oh, and can I keep this?" She held up the journal Roark had found in the underground hideout that afternoon.

"Go ahead," he said.

Aj went out.

* * *

><p>The sun had almost completely set, but Ashley could still see. She even saw the red speck on the horizon. Annoyed, she told Sagitta, "Ignore him. Just keep going." Sagitta, seeing the aerodactyl, understood and kept flying towards Snowpoint City. Suddenly, an icy wind hit them, followed by hail. Sagitta bounced around in the storm, hardly getting anywhere. The aerodactyl, with powerful wings that pushed forward rather than let him glide, was gaining on them.<p>

_Sagitta's part dragon_, Ashley thought, _so ice is super effective…_ "Sagitta!" she shouted. "I'm going to put you in your pokeball."

"Well, hurry up if you're going to!" Sagitta yelled back. Ashley called her back. She fell a few feet before spreading her own wings and propelling herself as fast as the aerodactyl. _I'm still a dragon_, she thought,_ but at least I'm going faster._ But the aerodactyl wasn't far behind. Ashley's violet eyes could see his jaws open and begin to burn with bright orange flames-

_Oh, h*ll no_, thought Ashley. _Fasterfasterfasterfaster…_

**CRUNCH**

"OW!"

She retaliated using dragon tail with her other wing, knocking him away. She looked over at her left wing; it was torn through. She was sinking… but she was almost there… she could see the gym… _come on, make it_…

She landed right in front of the gym.

Aj walked out. "Hey," she said, "What are you doing here?"

Ashley told her about Fyr. Aj told her about the DNA and Lynch test. Got it? Good. Axel's laziness rubbed off on me =D

"Oh, hey, they're probably gonna want a skin test of you too," thought Aj.

"You're obsessed with skin tests now," confirmed Ashley. She went ahead and dragon clawed a piece of skin off. "What?" she said to Aj's disgusted face. "Seriously. I'm in dragon mode. Aren't dragons supposed to be violent?"

Aj had to shrug as Ashley walked into the gym. "She'll be normal as soon as she's normal again," she muttered.

"I appreciate your logic," a vaporeon popped out of her ultraball, "but it really needs work."

"Who asked you?" Aj asked, aiming the button on the ultraball at Vaporeon.

"I did!" Vaporeon dodged the beam of red light. "And haven't we been neglecting Ash and Dawn long enough?"

Aj froze.

"Oops…"

* * *

><p>Due to a time warp between Unova and Sinnoh that no one knew about, Ash returned to Unova, stayed there with Iris and Cilan a bit, and came back to Sinnoh, seemingly within a day. Then he swapped his pokemon out for his Sinnoan ones.<p>

"Why'd you do that?" was Dawn's first comment.

"They know J better than anyone else."

"J? I thought we'd be doing something... well, not relaxing, but -"

"You know me. I'm too nosy for my own good," Ash answered.

"Pi, pikachu," Pikachu comfirmed.

"Who asked you?" Ash muttered. He closed his eyes and focused his mind. _Shifty reiatsu in that direction… nope, random kid who didn't do his homework… guy thinking up a sacrificial battle strategy… oh, hey, hunter and henchmen?_

"Found her."

"Man, you should have learned that for when Team Galactic showed up," Dawn said.

"I know right?" Ash threw out Staraptor's pokeball. "Hey Staraptor, we're going to Snowpoint City, okay?"

"Starrr," Staraptor trilled.

Something flew past them. Ash only felt a rush of wind and a "Tos," before it was gone.

He looked over at where Dawn had been. "Aw, man," he said, hopping onto Staraptor's back. "And Iris tells _me_ I'm impatient."

* * *

><p>Mike was walking through the Pokemart, hoping to find some hyper potions, when a voice whispered behind him, "Do you feel like someone's following you?"<p>

He looked at Kyle and said, "Nooo… Why?"

"Because someone is. I can't believe you still haven't noticed him." Kyle gestured at a huge blond guy looking directly at them. He had on a leather jacket and a stare that didn't let up. When he saw them looking at him, he folded his arms across his chest.

"Oh, you're cool," Mike snickered.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," Kyle said.

"All right, all right."

They went out onto the street in Eterna City. It was way, way past sunset.

"What was your sudden obsession for hyper potions?" Kyle asked him.

"I ran out," Mike shrugged.

"Aren't you supposed to get full restores at your pokemon's level?" Kyle reminded him.

"Hey, If one of them is down 170 hp, I'm not going to use a full restore," Mike said.

"I guess. Did you find any?"

"One."

"You need hyper potions?" a voice growled.

They both jumped. A guy stepped out of the shadows. Dark shades concealed his eyes. He had a leather jacket exactly identical to the man who Kyle had seen in the Pokemart.

"Yeah, do you know where I can find some?" Mike asked him, completely unafraid.

"Somewhere this way. Here, I'll show you." He motioned for Mike to follow him. "You can stay here, it shouldn't take too long," he told Kyle.

Kyle nodded, even though he was suspicious. "See you later," he said to Mike. He leaned against a tree.

"Excuse me," someone else said, "Would you follow me?"

Kyle turned around and saw the man who'd been following Mike. "I have something I want to show you," the guy said.

_He probably wasn't following anyone_, Kyle thought. _He hasn't done anything to erase my trust_. Kyle followed.

They went through the trees to a lake Kyle hadn't even known was there. It wasn't that big, and trees covered it overhead. They waded through the pond and came out on another shore. Kyle noticed it was starting to get chilly. His town map said they were going around Mount Coronet toward Snowpoint City; that would explain the small patches of snow. They walked through another grove of trees and found a completely flat clearing. In the middle was what looked like a bunch of black building blocks that had been stacked together to make what could have passed for an airship.

"Excuse me?" The man didn't turn around. "Um, what's that?" He didn't answer, but Kyle knew something was up. He stopped walking.

The man noticed. Without turning around, he said, "Come on. We're almost there."

"Where are you taking me?" Kyle said calmly.

"Where do you think?" He gestured at the black boxes.

"What is it?"

"You'll see soon enough."

"I insist you tell me."

"_I_ insist you follow."

"_I_ insist on turning back then."

"Web him, Galvantula."

"Web – what?"

A net of spider silk came out of the darkness at him. Kyle blasted it away with the power from his transformation alone. He drew his sword.

"HA! HAHAHAHAHA!" the man laughed. "There goes my cover, just like that!" A giant yellow hairy thing with four legs and six eyes crawled out of the forest. She clashed her pincers together menacingly.

"What the h*ll is that?" Kyle shouted. She looked… disgusting…

"I would tell you, but that would give you the advantage," the man told him. "Galvantula! I won't call any attacks and give you away, so you're on your own."

Galvantula clicked her pincers and tried again to spiderweb Kyle. While he vacuum waved it away, he tried to figure out Galvantula's type.

_Tarantula… That much is obvious. So a bug type. That shouldn't be too hard. But what about the galvan?_

He dodged a pin missile. Was pin missile a steel type move? The galvan could be named for galvanized iron, right? He spun his sword and conjured a mach punch. He closed in…

…and got spiderwebbed.

_Fail…OW!_ Kyle thought. The web shocked him. _An electric spiderweb? Seriously?_

Galvantula smashed an electroball into his face. _Galvanized iron conducts electricity_, Kyle realized. _This is an electric bug_. The spider electrowebbed him again, adding onto the other one.

Kyle sliced through the net with a sacred sword and jumped right out of the clump of webbing. He landed on the galvantula's head using hi jump kick, and sprang right off to the side. He finished by sweeping his sword around using his sword without any attack.

"Galvantula, return," the man said, retrieving the fainted spider.

"I don't know your name, do I?" Kyle realized.

The man smiled. "My name is C. I know you'll make some snide comment on that, so I'll just tell you that us henchmen are J's cousins."

"That's…" Kyle shook his head. "That's really lame."

"Hey! Nurse Joys can have a million sisters! At least our family had enough creativity to give us different names."

"Yeah, cause naming kids after letters of the alphabet is sooo creative."

"Two things. One, we did that for fun, we do have real names, and two," the corners of C's mouth twitched. "You let your guard down."

**CLANG!**

Kyle brought his sword arm up to counter the blow that came at his back. "What are you talking about?" he argued, turning around to face another obviously Unovan pokemon. His face was hidden beneath a black and red helmet-like structure with a bronze blade protruding from the front. His forearms were like gallade's, but silver and with shorter swords on the elbows. A pair of blades surrounded his ribcage, pointing forwards, and his legs were shaped somewhat like a lucario's, except red and silver. Sharp claws tipped his silver feet.

"Interesting," commented Kyle. "I like the gallade plagiarism. That's about as good as you can get without actually being gallade."

C laughed. "You're acting like I created it. Bisharp's pretty tough."

Kyle smiled. "Then I'll have to go secondary on you."

C's smile turned into shock. "Wait, wha-"

Kyle slammed his sword into the ground. Immediately his body was enveloped in blue light. When it faded, he was still standing there, but he'd changed (which you may have guessed). His shoulders, chest, and back were covered in a lightweight armor, and his sword's shape had changed. It was larger and had a triangular guard that seemed to hover, unconnected to his sword. He held this one with two hands.

"Your sword changes with you, eh?" C asked.

"Yeah, it's sort of a part of me," Kyle said. He faced the bisharp.

They began with a normal sword fight… Normal, that is, if you ignore the fact that neither of them were entirely human. Kyle used arm thrust with his sword. The bisharp blocked them with his elbow swords, causing minimal damage even though it was super effective. They both used brick break, Kyle swinging down, Bisharp sweeping up. Bisharp nearly tripped on Kyle's low sweep. Kyle countered a poison jab with his sword –

"Where'd he go?" he said in shock. Bisharp had disappeared.

C laughed. No, I mean he cracked up. No, he lost control of his funny bone.

Kyle felt Bisharp's blade slice his arm from behind._ Ow - oh, faint attack._ Kyle charged a focus blast with his sword.

"Thief!"

C spoke a command for the first time in that battle. Before focus blast had charged, Bisharp grabbed Kyle's sword and punched him simultaneously. He leaped to C's side, leaving Kyle standing there, unarmed.

"Now come with me to my cousin's vehicle," C said to Kyle.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Kyle had a sneaky grin on his face. "No, I'm not," C tried to sound defiant.

"My sword is a part of me."

The focus blast exploded, hitting Bisharp in the face and knocking him out. Kyle's sword disappeared and reappeared in his hand, before his secondary form disappeared entirely. He was human again… sort of.

"HAH! I thought you'd lost there!" C laughed. "I'll have to have my other pokemon with me next time we meet."

"Yeah, sure," Kyle turned and left. His arm was already healed.

* * *

><p>"Hey," Ash said, "How long is it gonna take to get there?"<p>

"You're the one who got hungry," Dawn said. "You're asking _me_?"

"I'm kidding. J's ship is right below us."

Dawn looked down at the unmistakable black ship. "You could have told me you were joking."

"And ruin the fun? Come on, I think someone's going in. Now's our chance."

* * *

><p><strong>Whew! That took so long... Review the chapter this time.<strong>

**I had no idea this chapter would focus so much on Kyle. I'll probably do more of an Ash and Dawn chapter next time.**

**Unless I lied.**

**MUAHAHAHAHA -**

**Aj: (slap) Shut up! And why'd you have to make me so nerdy?**

**Ashley: Because YOU'RE A NERD!**

**Aj: Am not!**

**Mike: Yeah you are. All right, so how come all I did this chapter was buy hyper potions?**

**Aj: CUZ YOU'RE DUMB LIKE THAT**

**...thus starting a huge brawl, meanwhile...**

**Ash: When do you think they'll stop?**

**Dawn: When the next chapter comes out.**

**Aj: Why didn't Kyle say anything down here?**

**Mike: (sweatdrops)**


	11. Ash wishes for a dragon

**Before you read this chapter, I'll just say that I've revised chapters 3,4,6,7,8,9, and 10. Most of the changes are minor, but if anything, you definitely should read chapter seven.**

**Also, I've been getting too serious lately! After J and Ash talk, I'll liven things up a bit.**

* * *

><p>Everyone was asleep.<p>

No, really. Aj and Ashley had opted to stay at the Snowpoint City pokemon center overnight. Kyle had found Mike (who had his hyper potions) and returned to Eterna City. Both of them fell asleep as soon as they hit the pillow. All the way in Hoenn, Kevin was sleeping.

Everyone was asleep.

Except a pair of thirteen year olds sneaking into an airship.

* * *

><p>Ash and Dawn ran up the ramp that was the main entrance to the airship. The man they were following had just lost a battle – Ash could feel it. He seemed pretty relaxed about it, though.<p>

"Remember the plan," he murmured to Dawn. She nodded and slipped behind him. Ash went the same way as before, heading directly to the command room. J was there, alone. Ash made sure his shoes made noise against the walkway. Dawn made none – she'd put her boots in her backpack before going in.

They had reached the spot. Dawn hid beside the doorway.

"Hey!" he shouted, interrupting a video call. "You've got to tell me what you're trying to do!"

Dawn didn't bother hiding her smirk. He sounded so much like himself, J was gonna fall for it… hopefully…

"Idiot brat," J said calmly. "Whatever made you think you'll go back out again?"

Something slammed into the floor like a hammer. Dawn jumped and peeked around the corner to see Ash trapped inside a huge glass cylinder. He was banging the glass and shouting his head off, but Dawn knew him well enough to know that she shouldn't bring out Piplup to use peck.

"As I was saying before this boy rudely interrupted," J said to the screen above her, "I'm disposing of my less disciplined assistants and sending those who have more experience into the field. That was a complete fiasco, last time."

"No complaints there," the person she was conversing with agreed. Her voice was familiar to Ash, even through her voice was distorted through the glass. "But we can't wait much longer."

"Understood. We will notify you as soon as we get them." The video call ended.

"Ugh…" groaned Ash.

"I think I know what you're talking about," J said to Ash. "That's what the call was about. Syzygy, right?"

"What's Syzygy?"

"My client. They're looking for four Lynchs, and I think you know who."

Aj had told him what a Lynch was. "Why would they want them?" he asked J.

"They heard Cynthia's prophecy and interpreted it to mean that if they wanted to control Sinnoh – such an overrated thing to want – they would need to follow her words. The lines they noticed in particular were 'mind of a fighter', 'wings of lightning', 'heart of steel', 'eyes of a dragon', and 'dark's brightest light'. Their way of thinking is that if they have possession of those, they would have the ultimate weapon."

"And you agree with that?" Ash made a face.

"They're just my clients." J shrugged. "I do it for the money, not the ideals."

"So wait," Ash said. "They're going to cut them up and take out…" he thought about it. "Kyle's brain, Mike's wings, Aj's heart, Ashley's eyes, and who knows what the heck the last thing is?"

"That's what it sounds like," J answered. "I was asked to do it because of my experience in pokemon dealing, and Lynchs appear to be halfway pokemon."

"Disgusting. Who was that on your call? Like, which member?"

"Her name is Toxica. She is one of the leaders of Syzygy. I believe you've met her before?"

"Oh, yeah," Ash said, remembering the woman who interrogated Maylene's lucario. "So. Uh, that's all I got… Okay, let me out now."

J raised her eyebrows.

Dawn knew that was her cue. "Mamoswine, spotlight!" she yelled, coming out of her hiding place. "Take down!"

"Drapion, cross poison," J commanded. Mamoswine didn't even get near the glass cylinder…

"Pikachu, iron tail!" Pikachu swiped ferociously at the glass.

"Piiiiii-kaaaaah…" Pikachu cried anime-style tears; the glass wasn't scratched and Pikachu's tail was red.

"The only thing that can break that glass is a dragon attack," J intervened. "Not even hyper beam can crack it. Only a dragon."

"OH THAT'S GREAT. I'll just summon giratina now…" Ash clasped his hands and closed his eyes. J and Dawn watched intently.

Ash opened an eye. "What, you thought I was serious?"

"Mamoswine, ice shard!" Dawn called out.

"Pin missile."

The attacks cancelled each other out. Dawn tossed out another pokeball.

"Quilava, flamewheel, and Mamoswine, ice shard! Go for flame ice!"

(I heard her cyndaquil evolved during some episode I sure as heck didn't see, so I'm saying quilava instead)

J was stunned as a fireball coated in ice struck her drapion. WTF?

"Quilava, use swift on the floor below the glass pillar!" Dawn shouted. She appeared to be in character for a contest. An indentation formed in the floor, just enough to let Ash send out pokemon. He rolled out Infernape's pokeball.

J raised her wrist up to her mouth and ordered something into it. Moments later, a man with a yellow ponytail barged in. He was fairly tall, ever 6 feet, and had a thin face. His eyes were a bright, almost artificial green.

A timer ball and quick ball came out of his pocket, giving way to a milotic and gyarados.

"_I CALL GYARADOS!_" Infernape yelled (In pokemon language).

"_Hey! Dawn's going to expect us to pair up, you know_," Quilava told him.

"_No big deal. You can get the milotic and drapion_."

"_Yeah, sure_." Quilava said, using swift on everyone fighting them.

Infernape (I'm just going to assume you know Ash is telling him what to do) mach punched the gyarados.

_It's not very effective…_

He tried flamethrower.

_It's not very effective…_

Flare blitz?

_It's STILL not very effective…_

"_Well, that's great_," said Infernape.

"_You did ask for it_," Mamoswine reminded him, watching flame ice hit its mark.

"_Yeah, well,_" Infernape went for flare blitz and mach punch simultaneously. The result was a streak of fire with a glowing white point.

Gyarados got mad and used hydro pump, blasting Infernape clear to the other side of the room. Infernape flamethrew (flamethrowered?) him back.

Meanwhile, flame ice was getting broken apart by pin missile. Mamoswine ancientpowered the milotic, who countered it with water pulse. In the explosion that followed, Drapion didn't notice Quilava directly beneath him.

"_YOU JUST LOST!_" Quilava yelled, ending with eruption. Milotic turned her head and used hydro cannon on the fire type, KO'ing him as well.

"_Who's the loser now?_" Milotic turned to glare at Mamoswine.

"_OW OW OW!_" Infernape yelled. He was getting scalded by the gyarados. Infernape used mach punch.

_It's not –_

"_I KNOW!_"

_A critical hit!_

"_Oh, wait, really?_"

Gyarados was knocked out.

"_YEAH! I BEAT A – OW!_" Infernape shouted, getting aquatailed by the milotic. He was instantly knocked out.

"Gliscor!"

"Pachirisu!"

"Ariados!"

"MIghtyena!"

Four more pokemon appeared to fight. Mamoswine, meanwhile, managed to knock out Milotic with ancientpower.

Mamoswine lunged at Mightyena using take down.

"_Oh, %$^&!_" he yelled, tripping over a string shot from the ariados. Pursuit made him faint.

"Nicely done, anyways, Mamoswine," Dawn said, calling him back.

Gliscor and Ariados flew at each other using firefang and poison jab. The moves collided and cancelled each other out. Mightyena started to do the same with pursuit; however, Pachirisu had a different idea.

"CHIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Everyone got hit with discharge.

"Cough…" Dawn opened her eyes to see all but Pachirisu knocked out.

"Aw, man," said Ash. "Hey wait, how did Gliscor get knocked out?"

*insert record scratch here*

"HEY! THAT WAS MY IDEA!" Axel (the character) ran in. "You can't just steal it! If you do, I'll have to FIRE MY LAZOR BLAAAAARRGGHH!"

"Axel, what are you doing here?" Ashley said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

"Making a cameo =D" Axel replied.

"That's BEN'S idea. Now go away."

**CUT!**

* * *

><p><em>Take two<em>.

"Aw, man," said Ash. "Hey wait, how did Gliscor get knocked out?"

*insert record scratch here*

**DOOM!**

Axel's laser ricocheted off the moon and fried everything.

**CUT!**

* * *

><p><em>Take three.<em>

"Torterra, I choose you!" Ash yelled.

"Volcarona, leech life!" said J, not hesitating to call out a move.

"Go, Flygon!"

Torterra took revenge on the supereffective leech life with energy ball. Pachirisu superfanged the Mystic Pokemon, who countered with dragon claw. Flygon followed up with sandstorm. Pachirisu was getting extremely tired by now. Volcarona was using back-to-back bug buzzes on an increasingly annoyed Torterra, who wound up blasting a leaf storm in the bug's face. Pachirisu suddenly got an in-the-face mud shot, resulting in a KO.

Energy ball knocked into Flygon, who fell onto Volcarona. "_Yay, dominoes!_" Torterra cheered.

"_Why yay dominoes?_" Flygon wondered.

"_I like dominoes_," Torterra said. He leaf stormed Flygon.

_It's super effective!_

_A critical hit!_

_Flygon fainted!_

_It's an epic_ –

"_ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT!_" Volcarona yelled. A heat wave hit Torterra, melting the energy ball he was about to send. Torterra's claws glowed white, and he smashed them into the floor, creating a temporary mountain. He climbed straight up the cliff and rammed into Volcarona, who couldn't continue the heat wave. The next leaf storm hammered into the bug that had fallen off the cliff. Then the mountain shrank back into the floor, as if it had never been there in the first place. Torterra smashed a final energy ball into Volcarona, knocking her out.

"Okay! Buneary, spotlight!" Dawn decided on her next pokemon. "Oops – wait, come back! You're still wearing your jacket!"

...

J's assistant sent out his final two pokemon, an alakazam and charizard.

Buneary gathered icy energy at her mouth and released it in an ice beam. The charizard flew straight up, letting the ice beam form a small boulder where he previously stood. Green energy collected in front of Torterra, who flung the energy ball right at Alakazam. Suddenly energy ball turned blue and reversed its path. Torterra merely opened his mouth wide – and swallowed it.

"_WHAT?_" Alakazam's eyes widened so far, you could practically see the optic nerve.

"_Yum =D_," Torterra said. His tree glowed a healthy green.

"_I see you have a few tricks up your sleeve. I suppose I'll use a few of mine._" Alakazam sighed. "_What a bother._"

He created blades of psychic energy, using them to chop a branch off Torterra.

"_That didn't hurt me_," Torterra shrugged.

"_It wasn't meant to_," Alakazam replied.

Using psychic, he levitated the branch over to Charizard's tail, causing it to alight with flames. Torterra's eyes widened as he realized what Alakazam was trying to do. He blasted Alakazam with leaves, which was completely ignored as he teleported away. The burning branch landed in the tree, spreading the flames to Torterra himself. Torterra shouted and tried to leaf storm Alakazam, but the leaves were incinerated almost instantly. Energy ball, however, worked… sort of…

"_Is that the best you can do?_" Alakazam taunted. He batted the tiny energy ball away with a spoon.

Torterra's claws glowed white.

In an instant, Alakazam shot up. Before he could react, Torterra shoved him off the cliff.

"_Argh…_" Alakazam grunted. The floor shrank back down again. He rushed at Torterra and used a psycho cut on one of Torterra's stones. The pointed rock shattered.

Torterra collapsed. His tree looked dead and one of his stones looked like gravel.

"Torterra, excellent fight," Ash told his pokemon. "Continue where he left off, Staraptor!"

"_Agh… $#% you…_" Buneary groaned. Charizard picked Buneary up and threw her up, catching her with a focus punch as she came down. She flew into the glass encompassing Ash, and immediately fainted.

"Togekiss!" Dawn said without hesitating. Togekiss took off.

Staraptor dove at Alakazam with brave bird. The psychic pokemon teleported at the last second, causing Staraptor to ram headfirst into the wall.

"_Ow… that hurt…_" Staraptor muttered.

"_Don't be a dolt_," Togekiss sighed. She threw a ball of sharp air (how do you manage that?) at Charizard, who swiftly dodged.

"_Dolt is hardly a valid word anymore_," Staraptor protested, attacking with the often-accurate aerial ace.

Alakazam teleported.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! WHAT THE &#%$ IS YOUR PROBLEM!_"

Staraptor dodged a number of consecutive psycho cuts, meanwhile Ash was thinking up a plan. _Staraptor needs to attack before the alakazam teleports… Oh, duh_. Staraptor hit Alakazam with quick attack.

"_Rrgh_," Alakazam growled. He conjured psycho cut's energy blades.

_He's not gonna teleport_, Ash realized.

Alakazam and Staraptor hit with psycho cut and brave bird at the same time, causing an energy reaction. Both fell back, defeated.

"_Oh, dear_," Togekiss said in a princessy way. "_Are you going to attack me?_"

**FLAMETHROWER ATTACK!**

…

_shortly after_

**FLAMETHROWER SKY ATTACK!**

"_Ow!_" grunted Charizard. He firepunched Togekiss as she flew past. Togekiss turned around and used another sky attack. Fire punch. Sky attack. Fire punch. Sky attack. Fire punch. Sky attack. Fire punch. Togekiss ran out of PP first and reverted to air slash. Charizard dodged by just flying straight up, then he used flamethrower.

"_You won't go unpunished!_" Togekiss shouted, true to her royal upbringing. She created a shining mass of air, and instead of throwing it, rushed toward Charizard. He surrounded his hand in flames and shot his hand forward –

**BOOM!**

Both hovered above the ground, fighting to stay… um… fighting. Charizard created a focus punch and set it on fire with flamethrower. Togekiss sealed an aurasphere inside her airslash and zoomed forward.

_It's not very effective on either one…_

_A critical hit on Togekiss!_

_Togekiss fainted!_

"Return," Dawn said. "Well done," she whispered to the pokeball.

"Buizel, I choose you," Ash said, a worried tone to his voice.

"Piplup, you too," Dawn called.

Charizard neatly dodged every attack, the water ones, the normal ones, the flying ones. While in the air, he charged up for –

"WHAT THE &$%! HE CAN USE SOLARBEAM?"

Piplup did what he normally did for contests: dodged by spinning. Buizel did what he generally did in battles: tried to cancel it out. He sped directly toward the solarbeam using aquajet –

"_AUGH! &#%$!_" Buizel was thrown back, badly burnt. Charizard targeted him.

"Whoa! What –?" Buizel had thrown a sonicboom at the base of Ash's pillar. He hadn't said to do that… But the gap between the glass and the floor had widened. Charizard focus punched him on the side of his face.

Buizel was unconscious. "Re – Return," Ash choked out, knowing what Buizel's idea had been. "Okay. Pikachu, now that you can fit through –"

Pikachu nodded grimly.

* * *

><p><em>Aquila.<em>

A latios shifted in his sleep.

_Aquila._

_Let me sleep_, he answered with a frown.

_Aquila._

_What?_

_Something's not right._

_That's nice._

_Aquilaaaa…._

_All right Sagitta, what's wrong?_

_Ash and Dawn are both awake. I'm picking up their thoughts from somewhere near Snowpoint._

_That's where you are, right?_

_Yeah. I think they need help._

_I'm coming._

* * *

><p>Charizard fell to the floor, having been attacked by an electric whirlpool. Piplup and Pikachu were panting from exhaustion.<p>

"_That's a… tough… charizard_…" Piplup breathed out.

J's salamence appeared.

"_ARE YOU FRICKIN' SERIOUS?_" Pikachu shouted. They scattered to avoid a hyperbeam.

"_Hey, if we're lucky, he'll destroy the thing Ash is in on his own!_" Piplup said optimistically.

"_Don't use dragon pulse no matter what!_" J shouted.

"_Never mind T_T_," Piplup sighed.

Salamence stared at the two pokemon facing him.

"_What?_" Pikachu demanded.

"_I'm expected to battle two pokemon who are a foot tall?_" he growled.

"_Got a problem with that?_" Piplup retorted.

Salamence shook the airship with an earthquake.

_It's super effective on Pikachu!_

"_Ow…_" Pikachu squeaked. "_TAKE THIS!_" He thunderbolted Salamence.

Salamence took it.

"_Wha-_"

"_Unlike you, I've gotten stronger_," Salamence shrugged. "_This should be too easy_."

Pikachu created an electroball right in front of Piplup's hydro pump. The two moves fused and hit Salamence.

"_Oh really? Grow up, you sorry excuses for magikarp_."

This really ticked Piplup and Pikachu off.

**KARP**

A magikarp fell from the sky. Pikachu irontailed it out of the way.

**KARP KARP KARP**

Pikachu surrounded himself in electricity. Piplup made a whirlpool around himself and shot forward using peck. Pikachu employed his volt tackle simultaneously. The attacks fused again…

Salamence countered it with hyperbeam, but neither attack gave in. Piplup and Pikachu could barely hear the words of encouragement their trainers were shouting, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was pushing the ray of power back towards its origin.

Piplup opened his beak (which was still glowing with peck) and shot a stream of bubbles into the hyperbeam. Pikachu did the same with thunderbolt. The hyperbeam suddenly gave way, allowing Pikachu and Piplup to attack Salamence directly.

"_Ow_," Salamence grunted. "_That one actually hurt a little_." He flexed his wings and used flamethrower. Piplup countered with hydro pump, washing out the flames entirely. Pikachu leaped forward again for volt tackle and Piplup started to use whirlpool –

"_I DON'T THINK SO!_" Salamence roared. He slammed his foot on the floor and used earthquake. Not even bothering to wait for the shaking to stop, he used hyperbeam.

**BOOM!**

(Starting here, you won't be seeing much pokemon talk anymore)

"Kaaa…"

"Lup…"

Neither of the pokemon were unconscious, but neither could fight either.

"Re…turn…" Dawn faltered.

"Pikachu…" Ash whispered.

…

It hit Ash first.

"$%#! We lost?"

J straightened up. "Good. Now that's over." She looked back at her assistant. "Dismissed." He walked out.

Dawn sank to the ground. _We lost? But we did so well… they fought so hard… and for all that we lost?_

J spoke to them. "Now then. I'll start by confiscating your pokeballs –"

**CRASH!**

The window shattered. J looked completely bewildered. Then–

**CRASH!**

The pillar encasing Ash shattered in two places. He felt himself hurled onto the back of something – well, maybe not hurled, but gently placed at such a high speed it seemed rough. Whatever it was swooped down over Pikachu to let Ash grab him, then flew back out the broken window. Dawn was close behind on another one. They flew out into the fresh night air, and Dawn thought to herself, _Thank Arceus, we're free_.

Somewhere behind them a dragon and his master were left to clean up.

* * *

><p>They had gone full speed since Snowpoint, and didn't slow down until near Eterna City. At that point, the pokemon Ash and Dawn were riding slowed down so they could see them.<p>

"Aren't you –" Ash began.

"Kyle's latios? Yes," the latios he was on replied. "My name is Aquila."

"I'm Sagitta," added the latias Dawn was riding. "I sensed you needed help and called Aquila to come with me."

"Thanks. We owe you one," Ash told them.

"Anytime," Aquila replied. Both of them took to the air and flew off in opposite directions.

"Whew," Ash exhaled. He looked worn out. "I thought we'd completely failed."

"Nah, just you," Dawn said with a shrug.

**AURA STYLE FALCON PUNCH**

"Hey! Can't you take a joke?"

"Cameo time!=D"

"Axel, go away, this chapter's about to be over anyways."

"Exactly! It's perfect because there's nothing else to do here!"

Ash's wrist glowed with his aura, which shifted into the shape of a falcon. He punched –

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!**

"THAT WAS MY IDEEEEEEeeeeaaaaa…" Axel shouted as he flew off into the distance.

**CUT!**

* * *

><p><em>Take two.<em>

"I'm just glad we're all safe," Dawn pointed out.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Hey - did you see the look on J's face when the window broke? She looked so confused... she looked HILARIOUSLY confused..."

They went to get their pokemon healed.

* * *

><p><em>A few hours later...<em>

Everyone was asleep.

The Lynchs were asleep.

Ash and Dawn were asleep.

Their pokemon were asleep. Still being healed, but asleep.

Sagitta and Aquila were asleep.

The bad guys were asleep.

And yes, even Axel was asleep.

Finally.

* * *

><p><strong>YAY! I DID IT!<strong>

**This is the longest chapter by far. I asked Axel for permission to give him a cameo, and he said yeah, so...**

**There's a secret in this chapter. Here's a hint: look again at chapter 3.**

**Thanks again Axel.**

**Anonymous reviews are on, btw. So even if you're not a member, you can review.**

**SO REVIEW DANGIT**


	12. A bug teaches Aj Bankai

"Why not?" Aj asked in shock. "You were fine with it that other time."

"It didn't work out last time," Ashley replied simply.

**Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't begin at the right spot. It began with Aj suggesting they do another training session, which Ashley opposed. _Then _came the dialogue.**

"Oh, just cause Kyle lost –"

**CRACK!**

No, she wasn't transformed. No, it wasn't an actual move – well, okay, sucker punch technically _is_ a move.

"DUDE!" Aj yelled.

"Look who's talking!"

"Huh?"

"Yeah!"

"What?"

"Huh?"

"No!"

"What?"

"DUDE!" Aj yelled.

"You know, when you say dude, it sounds okay, but when it's written and still applies to a girl…"

"I MEAN WHAT DID YOU PUNCH ME FOR YOU #%&$!"

"Easy on the language. Isn't it obvious that you've ticked me off? You didn't even notice, and that was your whole point of saying it–"

"No, I'm being serious, I'm saying you like him."

"Yeah, well, if you don't cut it out, the author will change the genre to Adventure and Romance."

**I will?**

"Work with me here."

"I can't believe you don't see it," Aj said, looking slightly disappointed.

"Yeah, well, back to the training thing: it just feels weird beating your friends up."

"Yeah, I guess. I think I'll go back to the battle frontier now. There's nothing left to do here." She got up and walked out into the snow, disappearing on her metagross.

Ashley got bored. She decided to see if Nurse Joy needed any help.

"Not here," she said, "But there's a huge emergency in Eterna City. Someone's pokemon got pretty beat up – and the trainers seemed really worn out too. But that's just what my sister said –"

"Thanks!" Ashley shouted, running toward the exit. "Bye!"

"Oh, watch out–"

**THUD**

"…the automatic doors get stuck sometimes…"

Ashley continued out the (now) open door. _Shoot… Eterna… That's where Kyle and Mike are..._ The snowstorm had subsided, so she brought out Sagitta's pokeball. "Let's go fly," she said, hiding the dread in her stomach with a cheery voice.

"You aren't fooling me," Sagitta said, letting Ashley climb onto her back. Ashley noticed Sagitta looked really tired, like she'd been up all night.

"We're going to Eterna," she told her.

"Gah – why?"

"…Why not?" Ashley said.

"Never mind," Sagitta yawned, lifting off.

* * *

><p>Mike had worn a perpetual frown that morning. He'd been running all over the pokemon league, trying to find the person who was basically his counterpart.<p>

"Have you seen Kyle?" he asked Lucian, who was passing by.

"Kyle? No," Lucian replied.

Mike tried Kyle's room. His bed was made, books neatly on the shelves… Mike noticed a slip of paper on his desk. He picked it up and read the note Kyle'd left him.

_That's really not a bad idea_, he thought. _Iron island… I'll choose somewhere else so I don't disturb him._

He left a note of his own, for Lucian. He and Kyle had become friends with Lucian not long after they'd entered the Pokemon League. Lucian would understand what they were doing.

Mike turned on Kyle's PC and took out six pokemon. _Let's see… I'll need Shiolu… and Togekiss… Lignite maybe… Sandslash, Tyranitar, and… Cirque. That'll work nicely._

He still had no idea why Ashley had chosen to give Umbreon's sister a name like Cirque.

Mike was on his way out when he tripped over a book in the middle of the floor. He would have put it back on the shelf, but then he noticed the title:

Lifting the Limit: Your Partner's Real Potential

Partner… Somehow that sounded more like a pokemon partner than anything else to him. He took the book (he was just _borrowing_ it) and left.

* * *

><p>"What the %#$&amp; happened here?" Ashley said in shock.<p>

Every single one of Ash and Dawn's pokemon were sprawled on the floor or across a bed. Above the door were the words Urgent Care in bright red letters. And they really did look like they needed urgent care; most had bruises a shade of purple that would have made sense on a plum; the fire types (Infernape and Quilava) were having trouble with their fires; a few were really beat up and had wounds the color of the urgent care sign; but the worst was –

"Torterra," Ash said wearily. "He probably got the worst of it. The chansey here fell over when she saw him."

Ashley ran her eyes over the giant tortoise's charred branches, singed grass, and crumbled stone. "He looks… like he was… wow…" She couldn't come up with a decent explanation for it.

"It was torture watching it happen," Ash shuddered. "I shouldn't have suggested going –"

"Oh, come on. I may as well be saying I ought to have stopped you," Dawn snapped. More gently, she said, "Everything's not all your fault. And besides, it's because we went that we found out their plans."

Ash shrugged. "Yeah, all right…"

"Plans?" Ashley inquired.

"Oh, yeah, the guys J's working for… Their name's Syzygy, and they want to control Sinnoh, right? And to do that, they basically want something J doesn't know, Mike's wings, Aj's heart, Kyle's brain, and that," Ash finished, pointing to Ashley's face.

"My what?" Ashley said in surprise.

"Your eyes."

"Wait… Okay, they want our… yecch, organs… But what would they do with them?"

"Combined, they would make the ultimate weapon… Which is seriously weird logic."

"No kidding. You said there was something J doesn't know of."

"Well, I mean she didn't _say_…"

"Oh. All right." Ashley paused. "Thanks for going out there, guys. Now we know what they're trying to do."

"Sagitta and Aquila saved us, and I really wish we knew how to stop them," Dawn said sourly.

"Mamo," Mamoswine muttered in agreement.

* * *

><p>"That's stupid," Aj argued. "That's seriously stupid."<p>

"I know it sounds stupid, but it sounds like they took that prophecy Cynthia made and took farther than most people would. They probably just see us as a threat to their domination of Sinnoh," Ashley replied on the video phone.

"Easy solution: we don't get caught."

"What if they're stronger?"

"We won't let them be stronger."

"I can't believe that actually sort of makes sense…"

"That's insulting. I'm going to battle right after we hang up. Then I'll get stronger."

"Sure… Tell Kyle and Mike for me, okay?"

"No, it's okay."

"Fine, I'll do it. Go do your battle."

"See ya." Aj hung up, leaving Ashley staring at the screen. She was still hung up on the issue of Syzygy. She knew that a syzygy was an alignment of three stars or planets or whatever in astronomy, and Kyle had said some nonsense about modules. Syzygy probably chose that name because it sounded cool.

She dialed the Pokemon League. It was Aaron who picked up.

"Hi Aaron, is Kyle there?"

"Probably. I'll go find out." He went offscreen and Ashley waited about five minutes. Then Lucian came on.

"Hey there Ashley."

"Hi Lucian."

"Kyle and Mike are both gone. They left notes saying they left for special training, but if it's urgent, it looks like Kyle's at Iron Island and Mike went to Lake Acuity."

"Oh… it's okay. I can tell them later."

"Sure. See you around."

Special training. Aj was doing training in general, too. Sooo…

"Does this mean it's lunchtime?"

Ashley glanced at her belt. "Who said that?"

"Me," Sola's voice came back out.

"It's only 10:30."

"Sooooo?"

"No, we're going to train after calling the guys." She turned on her Xtranceiver and called Mike.

"I'm hungryyyyy…"

"Is that you? Why are you hungry? It's only 10:30."

"Mike, that was Sola," Ashley corrected.

"Well, excuuuse me…"

"Anyways, just a bunch of stuff to tell you about people you think don't exist." Ashley continued with the information on Syzygy, but she had the distinct impression that Mike wasn't listening.

"Trust me, when they finally decide to aim for you, you'll want to know this," Ashley insisted.

"You aren't still going on about what happened at the power plant, are you? The guys who knocked Aj and me out wanted us out of the way, but they didn't want us to go telling anyone. It's not an issue of trying to catch us," Mike explained.

"Then how did they know to cover your feet?"

Mike's eyes shifted uneasily. "Um… I… They were uncovered, so they could have guessed what was going on –"

"Ai yah. So how's your training going?" Ashley changed the topic.

"Um… Actually it's going great. I found this book that explains how to teach pokemon more than four moves –"

"DANG, is that even legal?"

"I hope. But it's so cool, I could teach them every move of their species if I stick at it… plus TMs. I'll loan you the book if you want. I'm done with it."

"Could you? That would be so cool to teach them more than four moves… so many new strategies."

"Yeah, just come up to Lake Acuity to get it."

* * *

><p>The amount of time it took to fly to Lake Acuity from Eterna City: 10 minutes.<p>

The amount of time it took to make a detour: Half an hour.

"Sola, it's what every normal domestic pokemon eats."

"Hey, I'm not _that_ domestic. I want an apple."

"Sigh… You're so spoiled…"

* * *

><p>On Sagitta's back, Ashley placed another call via Xtranceiver, to Kyle.<p>

"Darn. I was hoping it would be less lethal," was Kyle's reaction.

"I know. But all there is to do is be prepared, really," Ashley replied.

"That's what I'm doing here at Iron Island," Kyle reminded her.

"So you're even farther ahead than us," Ashley concluded. "Mike found a book that describes how to let a pokemon learn more than four moves. He's letting me borrow it – Should I bring it to Iron Island so you can see it?"

Kyle's face stretched out into a grin. "It's mine. I left it at the Pokemon League. I was hoping he'd find it."

"So _that's_ where he got it from. I was worried he stole it or something." Ashley considered that. "And he technically did."

"It would be great if you could show Aj though. And I guess Ash and Dawn, since they're helping us out so much."

"Okay. See you later… Um, how long will you be there?"

"I'll be here a while. It should definitely not be more than a month."

"Yeah, cause that's not long at aaalll…"

"Oh, shut up. I don't actually know how long it will take."

"All right, take your time. And convince Mike that they exist when you get back, okay?"

"I won't have to. He'll find out long before I come back."

"Huh?"

The screen went black.

* * *

><p><em>At Acuity:<em>

**BOOM!**

"Oh good, training's going well," Ashley commented.

Cirque and Sandslash were battling fiercely. _Hey wait_, Ashley thought, _either their aim really sucks today or they're… not… aiming for…_

Then she saw Mike. That is, sort of saw Mike. His outline was barely visible in the sandstorm slash blizzard slash hailstorm that was going on. Sandslash shot a wad of mud into the storm, hitting the figure in the middle. Suddenly electricity shot out in every direction from Mike. Cirque and Sandslash neatly dodged it and blasted an ice beam and a swift into the arena. Ashley cringed, but both were countered by another discharge. Both pokemon charged up for a physical attack…

And then it started to rain.

"Huh?" Ashley wondered, feeling the drops soak her hair. She realized Cirque and Sandslash had stopped attacking, and the sand/hail/snowstorm was dying down. Mike's swampert, Lignite, had started the rain.

Mike looked perfectly fine. He brushed some ice off his arms and went over to where his pokemon were. Ashley followed, hoping he'd notice she was there.

"Nice power, guys," he was saying. "Your new mud shot's doing well, Sandslash. You both should still work on seeing the pattern to special attacks, though." Mike's temporarily golden eyes found her. "Oh, hey, the book's under Lignite. Rain dance was the stop signal, and I didn't want to get it wet."

"Okay. Thanks."

What was she supposed to say?

She went and got the book from under Lignite. Despite having been protected from the rain, it was dog-eared and bookmarked in various places. It was titled "Lifting the Limit: Your Partner's Real Potential".

Mike was already organizing a Lignite versus Shiolu battle. (Shiolu did not seem thrilled) "Thanks," Ashley yelled across the wet grass field.

"You already said that," he shouted back.

As she flew off on the back of her latias, the fight was beginning. And I would tell you about that, except there's another option.

I could tell you what _else_ happens next.

* * *

><p><em>Time: 4:23 pm<em>

_Day: Thursday_

_Place: Battle Frontier_

"Yo."

Aj looked up from the novel she was reading. A relatively short boy with glasses stood in the doorway behind her. Despite his height, he was probably around 16. His jacket looked like it was made of aluminum with copper lining. Behind the glasses, his eyes were blue. The part that Aj found most surprising was his hair. Although most Sinnoans tended to have blue or brown hair, his was eccentric silver with green highlights. _No one_ had that sort of hair, not Hoennites, not Kantonesians, not Johts… Not even Unovans, and heck, that was another continent.

And who these days says _yo_?

"Um, hi."

"I'd like to battle you," the boy said.

"Okay."

"…A certain way."

Aj's head tilted to the side. "What's that?"

He smiled. "I'll tell you at the battlefield. I'm Iro. You seem interested, do you want to try my battle?"

Aj considered the risks (There weren't many). "Sure," she shrugged.

* * *

><p>"Which end would you like?" Aj asked him.<p>

"Huh? Oh – of the battlefield? Um, this side." He chose the end nearest the door.

Aj jogged to the other side of the field. "Okay, since it's so special, I assume it's six on six?"

Iro smiled. "Close. It's seven on seven."

Aj digested that. "Wait, what?"

Iro continued, "It's last one standing, in double battles. I think the proper etiquette is professional goes first?"

"Okay," Aj said warily. "Diffri, Andy, you're on."

Her metagross and blastoise took the field.

"Leafeon, Flareon."

"You first," Aj said.

Without hesitating, Iro said, "Flamethrower and leafstorm."

"Okay, hydro pump and charge beam to cancel them out."

…And they would have canceled out if…

"Oh, dang."

Flareon and Leafeon had both run forward while using their attacks, so they were right in front of Diffri and Andy. "Double giga impact!"

"Wait, what? At that close range?" Aj watched both of her pokemon crash into the floor.

2 hit KO.

"Okay, uh, return," Aj said, taken aback.

"Lemme in already," a tinny voice sounded from her pocket.

"In a sec, Luoir," Aj muttered. "Flit, Never, you guys go."

Her masquerain and empoleon materialized. "Why is your empoleon's name Never?" Iro asked.

"I had a jolteon called Away. Never's name is actually Nevrcombak, which was not easy to squeeze into the eleven letter spot. In double battles, I can say 'Go, Away and Never come back!" Aj explained cheerfully.

…

"Okay. Um, it looks like they can move again. Both of you, use hyperbeam!"

Aj said something I'm not going to repeat. "Steel wing and silver wind!" She mentally said something else equally inappropriate and realized she'd countered a special move with a physical move.

Never went down. Flit stayed in the air.

"Thanks anyways, Never. Okay, Vaporeon."

Vaporeon came out. "Aquajet, and use water pulse to make it bigger!"

A massive stream of water went shooting at Flareon. "Dodge!" Flareon dodged it, but found Flit in her face. Flit shot another silver wind at her, knocking her out.

"Go, Ursaring!"

"LEAF!"

Leafeon had gotten hit on the aquajet's rebound. It's not very effective, but it was big. Leafeon fainted.

"All right, Zebstrika!"

Unovan?

The electric zebra came out and immediately used flame charge. "Dodge–"

Flit wasn't fast enough. She got KO'ed.

"!"

"OKAY OKAY!"

Aj sent out Luoir. The lucario closed her eyes and nodded.

"Head smash and flame charge!"

"Aurasphere and mud shot!"

Guess what happened.

**BOOM!**

Luckily, Luoir was unharmed. Unluckily, everyone else was.

"Darn… return, guys." Iro sent out his final two pokemon. "You can do this!"

A pair of magikarp flopped onto the floor.

**KARP KARP KARP**

…

"Guess I've got no choice. Bone rush!"

**KAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRPPPP!**

"You said something weird like seven on seven?" Aj remembered.

"Yep."

A flash of light, and Iro had wings. Bug wings. His blue eyes had turned green.

"WHAT THE FREAKING &#^5 IS THAT?"

"What, you don't know?"

Aj knew. "I get it. That's how you already knew my masquerain's name was Flit. You asked why my empoleon's name was Never, even though the pokemon named Never could have been Flit."

She became the water lynch. She deflected Iro's sneak attack bug bite with a shell made entirely of water: razor shell. "It's not good manners to sneak up on someone," she said calmly. Aj blasted him across the room with hydro pump.

"Ow," he said. There was an eerie tone to his voice when he said, "You're good. I'm going to go Bankai on you, okay?"

Before Aj could react to that, his wings turned metallic silver. His limbs thinned out and became more buglike, while his eyes were both green and coppery in some parts.

"Oh crap."

Aj remembered something like this: her hair had turned silver, eyes blue and silver, and skin a shimmery bronze color, but this seemed more so, somehow, like he knew what he was doing. And Aj didn't remember how she'd done it.

Iro swung his fist at Luoir, knocking her to the ground. He bit her, like a wild animal.

"No! Get away!" Aj formed a steady aurasphere and thrust it at him. He simply hovered over it. He dived at Luoir with a meteor mash.

The lucario groaned and fainted.

Iro smiled. "I could do that to every one of your friends. But I chose to start with you. Aren't you lucky?" With that, he flew at her.

_My friends._

Aj thought it again.

_Every one of my friends…_

She'd be all alone. She had to do something first. An image of Mike, nearly dead, crossed her mind.

"No."

A flash of light lit her side of the stadium and stopped Iro in his tracks. Suddenly Aj was in her own Bankai.

A smile lit up her face. "I know how to do it. I don't know how it works for you, but it comes to me when I need to protect what I value. So you're screwed." She thrust a bubblebeam across the field. Iro used bugg buzz, making the whole room erupt with echoing vibrations. Aj covered her ears and shot forward with an aquajet larger than Vaporeon's. She uncovered her ears and swiped at him with a half razor shell, half bullet punch.

Iro fell back. He looked up at her and sighed. "You're really too powerful." He rose up on his wings and flew through a window.

"HEY! Scaredy cat!"

But he left anyways. Aj sighed and brought Luoir back into her pokeball.

_At least I relearned my Bankai_, she thought cheerfully.

* * *

><p>Nothing particularly interesting happened for two weeks.<p>

Oh, stuff happened. Kyle and Mike kept training, and Mike decided to come back to the Pokemon league. Kyle would be training for another two weeks. Once all the pokemon had healed, Ashley showed Ash, Dawn, and Aj how to teach pokemon new moves, and Aj showed her the water-steel Bankai. Ashley wasn't able to obtain hers, but they both went for a week of special training. At the end of the week, Aj and Ashley decided to see if Mike would be able to do his Bankai. They both flew up on their pokemon…

* * *

><p>"Hi Lucian!" Ashley said cheerfully. She was in a good mood that day.<p>

"Oh, hey," Lucian responded. He was reading a book Ashley recognized.

"Enna Burning?" she asked skeptically. "Isn't that a… kind of girl book?"

Lucian bit his tongue. He looked as if he were trying desperately not to laugh. "It is. There's nothing else to read and I'm feeling too lazy today to go to the library."

"Oh – okay. Is Mike here?" Aj asked.

"Yeah. I dunno where he is, but he's around." Lucian gestured toward the inside of the League. "Go ahead."

Aj and Ashley headed up to Mike's room (they had visited before). It was empty, and messy, but it was always messy.

"Something's not right," Ashley realized.

Aj focused. "There was a scuffle here, just under an hour ago. I can sense it."

Ashley's eyes snagged a piece of paper on the desk. In hastily scrawled handwriting, it said:

_they exis…_

"They exist," Aj read. "He found out about Syzygy – or they found him."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry so late. I'm going to try and finish this if possible to focus more on my new story, <span>When Your Heart Stops<span>. If you haven't yet, read chapter one.**

**Enna Burning is an awesome book.**

**Mike: Wait… what did you do to me?**

**Ashley: Um… I'd have to put spoiler warning…**


	13. Combos and fail sound effects

**Sorry guys – ****I took _way_ too long to publish this chapter. I got stuck around the middle, but that's not an excuse. My friend was right – I'm gonna get brain damage from having to write two stories at once.**

**Anyways... I hope you like this chapter, after the long wait. I recently realized: people are actually reading this! Awesome! If you are, please keep doing so, and if you are and you haven't reviewed, please do so as well to show me you actually care about this. For those without fanfiction accounts, anonymous reviews are on.**

**So many Syzygy leaders in this chapter! - spoiler :D**

* * *

><p><em>Crap. Crap. #3$ no.<em>

Aj couldn't focus her mind to find Mike because she was panicking. She was trying to find where he was, but her mind wouldn't cooperate. Neither would her loud heartbeat.

_They got him. They actually got him…_

A hand touched her shoulder. Aj opened her eyes and found Ash standing right beside her.

"Don't worry," he whispered. "I'll do it."

His eyes closed.

* * *

><p><em>Just under one hour earlier:<em>

Mike was reading a book Aaron had recommended to him – The Shadow Club. He thought it was awful.

"Never trust Aaron when it comes to books," he muttered as a mental reminder.

But he kept reading. He figured it couldn't get any worse.

While it kept getting worse, his window opened. He felt a breeze but paid no attention to it. He just kept reading… That is, until he got the feeling that there was someone behind him. He turned around.

The Unovan cat pounced, pinning him down. She blinked when his eyes turned gold, but figured it was a trick of the light and they were just normally that color.

"About time I just snuck in and got you manually," J murmured, sliding in through the window. She pointed her cannon at him –

Mike had the feeling he wasn't going to win. His gold eyes flashed as he sent out a discharge in all directions. It hit everything, the liepard, the books, the notepad on his desk…

J fired.

* * *

><p>"Let's go," Ash said decisively.<p>

"Where?" Aj asked, sounding shaken.

"Snowpoint."

* * *

><p>Kyle was wrapping up his training. Returning Apade to his pokeball, he exited the cave on Iron Island.<p>

Something was wrong. It was in the air. His psychic powers sensed it, and when your psychic powers tell you something, you always trust it.

If you have psychic powers, anyways. WHICH HE DOES!

"Aquila, let's go to Snowpoint," he suggested.

* * *

><p>"Here's the tunnel," Aj directed the group to the place Roark had excavated a few weeks ago.<p>

"LET'S GO!" Ash shouted as soon as they were all down the ladder.

**Note: Axel Nightblazer told me to do this.**

Ash charged into the tunnel, shouting a battle cry.

"TENSA ZANGETSUUUUUU…!"

He tried to use take down on a door. "Oww… X_X," he muttered.

Pikachu turned the knob and opened the UNLOCKED door.

"WHAT?" Ash shouted.

"Piiika," Pikachu sighed.

They (Aj, Ashley, Dawn, Ash, and Pikachu) went through to find a huge room inside. Lines of computers sat on desks that were unnaturally straight. A single monitor in the middle was turned on, with a blond head visible in front of it.

"So YOU'RE the boss!" Ash shouted. "What did you do with Mike?"

He obviously didn't notice the rest sweatdropping behind him.

The blond man turned around. "I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure what you're saying," he said primly. His manner was matched by the crisp tuxedo he wore, along with an old-fashioned top hat. Apparently his hair wasn't so much blond as light brown.

"Oh – er, our friend Mike got… kidnapped," Ash explained. "We think he's around here somewhere."

"You know, there was an odd looking statue that a lady took into the contiguous room," he said thoughtfully. "It appeared to be a boy in fear."

Aj and Ashley shuddered. "Thanks," said Ash. "We'll be going now." He started on ahead and found himself blocked by a massive stone wall that hadn't been there before. "What on earth –"

"You misunderstood," the man said calmly. "That there was an odd looking statue and it may, in fact, be your friend does not mean you may go ahead to the next room." Ashley noticed that he was wearing no shoes.

"You –" Dawn began.

"I am Crateron, the ground representative of Syzygy," he said grandly. "I'm here to hold you back." A massive plateau rose above the array of computers, knocking the majority of them to the side. It took Crateron into the air about fifty feet, leaving the others at the bottom. "Gastrodon, Flygon, Rhyperior, Krookodile, Golem, Garchomp," he said in such a proper-sounding voice, it was hard to believe he was the bad guy.

"Buizel, Torterra, I chose you!" Ash called out.

"Piplup and Buneary, spotlight!" Dawn shouted.

"Never, it's your turn," Aj commanded.

"Sola, show them what you're made of," Ashley yelled. When Sola was out, she turned and looked at her trainer solemnly. "Don't give me that look, Sola, just go!" Ashley shouted.

All six pokemon flew into battle instantly. It looked fierce, but Aj was distracted. "Why did Sola give you that look?" she asked Ashley.

Ashley grimaced. " 'Show them what you're made of' is code for 'I'm leaving you here, don't get KO'ed.' "

"Wha–"

"Come on. We have a friend to save."

* * *

><p>While Ashley and Aj were heading on to the next room, Ash and Dawn were deep in the heat of the battle. "Ice punch!" Ash yelled. Buizel knocked a mud bomb back at the gastrodon. "Leaf storm!" Torterra launched a whirlwind of leaves at the slow sea slug, who fainted. "Watch out for the flygon!" he shouted frantically. Buizel dodged, but the slow-moving Torterra wasn't so lucky. The flygon's powerful sky attack hit him on his still-healing tree.<p>

"Okay, really?" Ash said. "You go for the burnt spot that was bad enough last time?"

"It's a basic strategy," Crateron shrugged. "You should come up with one."

"Torterra's gonna have to regrow that tree first," Ash said, withdrawing Torterra. "Staraptor, go!"

Dawn's combo was working. "Ice beak, again!" Buneary froze Piplup's peck so that Piplup was left looking like a spear with a short, squat handle. It seemed to work, though, especially on the garchomp.

"Garchomp, use earthquake, if you please," Crateron spoke. The earth shook with the garchomp's massive power.

"Ohhh… That's cheap," Dawn snapped unhappily.

"Excuse me?" Crateron raised his eyebrows. "You're walking around in the same clothes you've worn every day since you were ten, and you call me cheap?"

...

"Uh, what?" Ash said, turning around.

"I HAVE NOT! QUILAVA, PACHIRISU, SPOTLIGHT!" Dawn shouted, blushing furiously. "ERUPTION AND SUPERFANG!"

Ka.

KA.

KAAAAAA~

**BOOM!**

The garchomp was knocked out just like that.

"Wow," Ash commented, eyes wide open. "Did you insult her hair or something? Cause she never gets this mad unless–"

"Shut up," Dawn called over to him, "unless you want me to go over there."

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ash screamed.

"Shut UP!"

"Piika," Pikachu sighed, washing his ear. He had to be used to that sort of thing, after spending a year with Dawn.

Never and Sola, meanwhile, were about to create an explo–

**BOOM!**

…by launching an ice beam and hydro cannon at the oncoming ancientpower and flash cannon. When the golem opened his eyes, he was surprised to see Sola coming at him…

**NIGHT PSYCHO CUT**

Her horn turned pale lavendar as her tail simultaneously turned obsidian black. Both swiped at the golem, rendering him unconscious.

The rhyperior saw a similar thing happen, except it was Never using

**AQUA STEEL WING**

The rhyperior never stood a chance (geddit? Never?).

"Buizel, aquajet, and Staraptor, brave bird!" Ash yelled.

"Sandstorm," Crateron said calmly. Buizel easily cut through the sand, but Staraptor wasn't so lucky. He coughed on the dust that entered his mouth… er, beak…

"Staraptor, return," Ash said. "Gliscor, I choose you!"

Buizel contacted the flygon he'd been aiming for. Flygon responded to this by simply opening his mouth and using a close-range hyperbeam.

"Buizel, return," Ash yelled. "Infernape!"

"ERUPTION AND SUPERFANG!"

KAAAAAA~

**BOOM!**

Flygon was gone. (It rhymes! :D)

"So how do you beat a krookodile?" Ash wondered. It looked vaguely like a sandile he knew. "Infernape, use mach punch, and Gliscor, steel wing!"

"Earthquake, Krookodile," Crateron commanded.

"Aah shi~"

Infernape was knocked off his feet, but Gliscor was unaffected. The steel wing hit the krookodile in the face.

"ERUPTION AND SUPERFANG!"

"Again?" Ash questioned.

**KABOOM!**

"We win," Sola declared.

Crateron looked at her humorously. "My dear absol, how could you possibly have won if you haven't defeated everyone?"

Sola realized what he was saying. "Oh no," she said.

"Oh yes," Crateron said mildly, creating a spontaneous, massive earthquake.

"Oh, NOOOOOO!" Ash yelled, losing his footing. He covered his head. When the shaking stopped, he looked up. Seeing Infernape, Never, and Quilava unconscious, he took in a deep breath. "Here goes," he exhaled.

**"X FIRE STONE IMPACT!"**

"What on earth–" Crateron started.

Gliscor's claws glowed green. He bit the tips with a firefang, igniting the x-scissor. Sharp stones circled his body, and were lit on fire by his claws. Gliscor rushed at Crateron, adding giga impact to the list. Stone edge strengthened it, and at its center was a red-hot X-shaped figure. Crateron was too stunned to move away in time. I would write that the collision went boom, but it didn't. It went:

THUD

"That's the most fail sound effect ever," Dawn commented.

"I must agree," Crateron said from underneath Gliscor. "It wasn't nearly as strong as it sounded." He grabbed Gliscor's wings and pulled him off him. Crateron yanked Gliscor's wings in opposite directions.

"GLI!" the fang scorp pokemon cried out.

"Ah, #*$&," Ash groaned. "Firefang, Gliscor!"

Gliscor attempted to bite Crateron, but missed. The lynch slammed him down into the dust. Gliscor fainted in exhaustion.

"Return," Ash said quietly.

"Sweet kiss!" Dawn called out.

Pachirisu got earthquaked first. The earthquake also managed to hit Pikachu. Since both were electric, they fell unconscious.

Crateron got up and dusted off his suit. "You see, I am much more powerful than any of you. If you call in another pokemon, it too will suffer defeat."

"Mamoswine, ice shard," Dawn yelled in desperation. "Togekiss, aurasphere!"

Yet another powerful earthquake shook the underground room. Mamoswine fused his ice shard with Togekiss's oncoming aurasphere, creating a spiky ball of azure ice. Crateron hit it back at Togekiss using a bone rush, but Togekiss swooped to dodge it. An earthpower erupted underneath Mamoswine, knocking him onto his back.

"Aah! Mamoswine!" Dawn cried.

Togekiss started charging for sky attack while Crateron hurled a mud bomb at Mamoswine. The twin tusk pokemon collapsed.

Togekiss shot at Crateron with her complete sky attack. She streaked across the dark room like a blue comet. Crateron only looked up in time to see it coming.

THUD

"Okay, really," Dawn remarked. "The sound effects have gotten lame."

Crateron wrestled Togekiss onto the dirt floor. Keeping his foot on her back, his brown eyes started glowing brighter. A crack appeared in the ground just below Togekiss. It widened and Togekiss started slipping in.

"Wha– return," Dawn intervened.

"Do you know what move that was?" Crateron asked. Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "That was fissure. The accuracy generally is very low: it can be calculated as the user's level minus the target's level, plus 30. Your togekiss isn't weak, so don't worry about that. It's just that I'm strong."

"To– Togekiss is level fifty-nine," Dawn said shakily.

"Ah, then the accuracy was 134," he said brightly.

Ash calculated. "You're level 192?"

"Ash, it's 163," Dawn corrected him.

"Oh." He frowned. "Still!"

"Now do you understand? You brought in everything you could, and it was nothing. You had a pokemon, no, you had many pokemon, and I was yet stronger than it. Resign now," Crateron declared.

"It?" a voice said softly.

THUD

"…" said Dawn.

"It?"

A flash of blue light and Crateron was encased in ice. A look of vague shock remained on his face.

"Every_thing_?"

A fire blast suddenly melted the ice, burning him with the sudden temperature change.

"You said 'It'."

Sola appeared behind Crateron, using night slash. "Personally, I'm a she. Mamoswine is a he, and so is Never. Togekiss is a she as well. None of us are 'Its'."

"Pokemon are not humans. The adverbs you are using apply to humans," Crateron shrugged.

"So we are less than humans?" Sola inquired, her voice rising. "Less? So what does that make you? Neither human nor pokemon, each of which would be perfectly respectable– but you're not! So perhaps you should be the it, less of a being than either me or Ash and Dawn." Sola was shouting. "I… can't… stand… humans like you!" She snarled, an evil sort of sound that gave Dawn the chills. It was also a damage-dealing move, which knocked Crateron out.

Sola froze him in ice. "Come on. Let's get away from this trash." She looked at the massive empoleon who didn't have his pokeball around. "Oh $&#."

* * *

><p>"Watch out for that one," Aj warned Ashley. The latter stepped carefully around another toxic puddle.<p>

They had found a way around the rock wall and made it to the door. Beyond that was a pitch-black room that they could only see because of Aj's aurasphere. It was filled with puddles of a viscous violet fluid that had burnt Ashley's foot when she stepped in it. The ceiling was too low for Ashley to fly over, but there was a door at the other end of the room that lead to another. So they were walking _very carefully_. Or, at least they were trying.

"Ow." Aj skirted around a puddle. "Ow."

"We're almost there," Ashley said, not looking up from the floor. "Almost there."

"I'm falling."

"Almost the– what?"

"AAH SH~!"

Ashley grabbed Aj's wrist just before she fell in a pool of poison. She yanked her back up, but the aurasphere fell in the puddle, spraying them with acid.

"Yeah, we better be almost there," Aj muttered.

Ashley burnt herself one last time before they reached the door. She flung it open to find a brightly lit expanse of… Um, it was hard to tell what it was, since she couldn't see from being in the dark room for so long. As her eyes adjusted, she noticed a humanlike figure standing in the exact center of the room. More of her became clear: she had black hair cut short. It was spiky, manga-style (like Soi Fon without the long braids at the bottom) and seemed to be almost an iridescent violet. Her eyes were a lighter, but somehow deeper purple. Her upper body was covered in a purple tank top with laces; her lower body had an impractical violet miniskirt and tights. On her hands were black fingerless gloves, and her feet were bare. She stood completely straight, arms folded. And she was looking right at them.

"What brings you here?" she demanded coldly.

"We'd tell you, but you'd react like the last guy did," Ashley said cheerfully. "Now if you'll excuse us…"

"Oh, but I won't." The lady's mouth curled into a sneer. "I'm not excusing you. What brings you here?"

"We're just looking for a friend," Aj said innocently. "Now, whether you excuse us or not, we'll be passing through."

"I won't let you pass through either."

"Watch us," Aj snapped.

"Watch your tongue."

"It's been nice chatting with you, but we'll be on our way," Ashley interrupted. She pulled Aj towards the opening on the other end of the chamber…

"You won't."

THUD

"Okay, what?" Aj wondered.

The lady landed on the wooden floor in front of them. "I am Toxica, poison representative of Syzygy," she proclaimed. "And you are not passing through." She curled both hands into fists and shot twin mud bombs at them.

Aj and Ashley dove to avoid the attack. Both of them brought their powers to life – Aj with steel, Ashley with darkness. Toxica spread her hands in front of her, and a deadly-looking gas oozed from her hands.

"*cough*… You're so lucky, Aj," Ashley noticed. Metal types are immune to poison.

"I'm just awesome like that," Aj replied, launching a metal bomb. Toxica batted it away with a poison jab.

"You say you're looking for a friend," she recalled. "The petrified one J brought in?"

Aj flinched visibly. Toxica took advantage of this to thrust her foot at Aj's stomach, remarkably agilely for a person in a miniskirt.

"Aargh–" Aj coughed.

"That's fighting dirty," Ashley commented, shooting out a dark pulse.

"That's fact," Toxica corrected. "It's a fact that he's petrified, and it's a fact that J brought him and that other boy in."

Ashley did a double take. "Other boy?"

"I heard it wasn't easy to subdue him," Toxica went on. "Even when he was shot with that stone cannon of J's, he still tried to raise that sword of his. But too late."

Ashley's head felt strange, like a radio picking up only static. _Kyle? What?_ She was vaguely aware of something touching her shoulder; when she brought her hand up to touch it, she found something wet and sticky.

_He can't be…_

The static left her brain. Ashley dodged an incoming cross poison. "Don't be stupid," she said aggressively. "He's not caught. He's too powerful," she explained, not believing a word herself.

Toxica shrugged. "Whatever you say. You should have seen the look on his face, like you know how the other one looked scared? This one was anything but that; he looked sooo determined…" She neatly sidestepped Ashley's sucker punch and caught her arm. "Why? Did you know him or something?"

"Possibly," Ashley said, biting her. "EW!" She spat out something purple. "What's this?"

"I'm the poison representative," Toxica explained with a very _Duh_ tone. "I have the ability poison point."

"#$%," Ashley swore. Aj unleashed a flash cannon at Toxica, who ducked under it. Aj and Toxica lunged at each other with metal claw and poison jab. The attacks clashed together, throwing off sparks. They kept hitting and countering, until Aj's metal claw cut Toxica's hand. The two then backed away from each other.

**DARK FAINT SLASH**

Rather than have all three moves (dark pulse, faint attack, and night slash) hit, Ashley conjured, then absorbed the dark pulse and night slash. She took all the power and put it into the faint attack, which was the move that hit.

THUD

Toxica dropped onto her backside. Aj started to glow silver.

"Kyle's not with you, is he?" Ashley sounded like she knew.

"He is," Toxica put simply. "You will be, too, once the poison gets to you."

Aj finished powering the doom desire. Toxica was blasted to the far end of the room.

"She's right," Ashley realized. "I don't have any chance once the poison starts working. I probably have HP or something."

"Do you have any pecha berries?" Aj asked.

"No."

"Lum berries?"

"No."

"Antidotes?"

"No."

"Full restores?"

"No."

"You're doomed."

"Naw…"

They opened the door to the next chamber. "HOLY F#$%ING S#%."

In the center of the room was a glass cylinder. Inside was a bronze teenager with his hands covering his face.

Mike.

A man and a woman walked in from twin doors on the left and right of the room. The lady had forest green hair and eyes the color of sunlight shining through a leaf. She wore a pink shirt that looked like flower petals overlapping each other. Her long skirt shone leaf green. The man's moustache and hair were wispy gray, despite the fact that he looked quite young. For some reason or other, he was wearing what appeared to be someone's idea of a wizard outfit: a long grayish-violet cloak and robe with silver stars on it.

Both of their feet were bare.

"My name is Folii, and this is Mystor," the woman said in a high, breathy voice. "To say what we represent," she giggled, "that would be telling."

"And you're not letting us get close to Mike," Aj sighed.

"That's right," Folii confirmed.

"This should be fun," Ashley muttered.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13!<strong>

**Yes, there's a Bleach reference in there. They have come in before, but since they tend to be arbitrary and few, I can do it without adding another category.**

**Speaking of references, I hope you've noticed the references to the prophecy in chapter 3 (hint hint). If you don't remember it, go back and look. The next chapter in particular should have several.**

**Mike: (crying anime-style) I didn't get to do anything...**

**Kevin: I haven't done anything in what, six chapters? (glares at author)**

**me: uh... gotta go... catch ya on the flip side! Whatever that means...**

**PS review as usual :D**


	14. Fighting for someone who wants to fight

**Sorry for the delay. I thought I'd have more time to write over winter break. But the result is probably the best battle I've ever come up with ^_^ Trust me, battles are the hardest thing for me to come up with. And this one is particularly long, too. So read, review, enjoy, and happy 2012.**

* * *

><p>"Daikenki, your turn," Ashley called, releasing her samurott.<p>

"Diffri, you're on," Aj said. The metagross stretched out his four sturdy limbs.

Mystor positioned himself in front of the glass column and wordlessly threw out a sableye.

"Roserade," Folii sang, moving forward near Mystor.

So Folii is obviously grass, Ashley thought. Mystor is either dark or ghost.

"X-scissor first," Ashley said.

"Keep it away with energy ball," Folii countered swiftly.

"Diffri, psyshock."

A deep voice rang out, "Double team." It hadn't seemed to come from anywhere, but had a confident, certain tone.

Daikenki slashed right through the energy ball, which dissipated into nothingness. Sableye suddenly diverged into what seemed to be a group of sableyes. One of the double teams darted over to Roserade and blocked her. It disintegrated after absorbing the psyshock directed at the other pokemon.

"Clever," Folii's voice had lost its carefree lilt. It was now full of accusation and sounded like it could deal a harsh blow in sarcasm. "Attack one foe, and with the other pokemon, use a move that could be attacking either, but attack the same foe as the first. A basic strategy, but not often used."

"Pity you saw through it," Ashley commented cheerfully. "Probably shouldn't have used a psychic move, Aj. Sableyes are unaffected by psychic."

Aj suggested something that would give this an M rating.

"Petal dance, Roserade," Folii commanded.

"Psychic, Diffri," Aj rushed.

"Razor shell," Ashley decided.

"Incinerate", the low, guttural voice from before said.

Innocent looking pink petals whirled around Roserade as though blown by a strong wind, then flew straight at Daikenki. Diffri's eyes flashed purple, and the petals stopped abruptly, turning on the one Sableye that had launched an attack. Daikenki drew his sword to block the incinerate's flames from reaching the steel-type, and charged in on Sableye.

"Perfect! Fake out, low sweep," the voice said in a taunting manner.

As Daikenki neared the sableye, the Darkness Pokemon suddenly clapped his hands together in front of his face. Daikenki slipped in surprise and fell hard after Sableye swept his foot under the larger pokemon. The water type fell flat on his face.

Sableye and Folii snickered. Aj winced. Ashley looked completely calm. "Bad idea," she murmured to Aj, a hint of a smile creeping onto her face.

Aj was about to ask why, but then Daikenki came back up with murder in his eyes (or knockout, since this is pokemon, but murder sounds more lethal). He gave an earsplitting roar and drew both swords up. Daikenki gave off a wild, blue-tinted aura of power and intimidation, reflected in those eyes.

"What on earth–" Folii gasped.

The samurott's swords glinted electric blue and sliced down on Sableye. The flat side of both swords hit the pokemon, knocking him out with a single hit.

"A samurai is a warrior of ancient Japan," Ashley explained, tossing a full restore to her samurott. "Their most prized possession was their pride, which they defended with their life."

"I already did seventh grade history," the deep voice growled. "I have no need for a recap."

"You obviously have forgotten it, though. Daikenki is a samurai. He defends his master and his pride with everything he has. When you laughed at him, you damaged his pride and wound up activating his Torrent ability. That wasn't the smartest thing to do to a samurai."

"Oh, so it's a battle of pride, is it?" the voice recognized.

"Possibly. And just wondering, is that Mystor?" Ashley wondered.

"Yes, and no." Mystor hadn't opened his mouth once during the battle.

"Don't be cryptic," Folii snapped at him.

"Okay, fine! Yes. I was _going_ to say 'I'm Mystor, but I'm also everywhere and everything,' since that's the effect I try to create with this. So. Battle of pride. Mightyena!"

A massive (though not mammoth, there's a difference) sized dog flew out of Mystor's pokeball. Her fur was mostly gray, with black patches along her back, lower legs, and tail. She glared at Daikenki with fierce red eyes.

"Mightyena, bite, sucker punch, take down, taunt!" was the command given.

"Daikenki, X-scissor," Ashley returned.

Aj and Folii suddenly looked at each other and realized they were just standing there.

"AAAHHHH CRAP! Diffri, use psywave!" Aj shouted.

"Roserade, magical leaf!" Folii shouted back. The moves cancelled each other out, which is boring, so I'll skip to what Daikenki and Mightyena were doing. Mightyena bit Daikenki just before he hit her with the x-scissor. The bug-type move crossed her forehead, and she yelped and sucker punched him in retaliation. Before Daikenki could recover, she tackled him head-on and leapt away. Daikenki was left short of breath, and the mightyena growled at him in a way that clearly meant, "Come and get me, loser."

Daikenki's Torrent became activated, bathing him in a watery blue light. He roared and lunged at Mightyena, who dodged lightly. The Formidable Pokemon turned and took another swipe at the Bite Pokemon, who sidestepped it calmly. Daikenki was getting ticked off beyond belief, with the need to take back his pride and defeat the hound.

"Don't stop attacking," Mystor's voice resonated. Aj understood what was going on.

_It's Daikenki's pride versus Mightyena's complete loyalty and determination_, she realized. _Mightyenas are known to obey and attack the enemy, but not to earn pride; just to defeat them. He's completely offsetting Ashley's idea of a pride battle, and it's throwing both her and Daikenki off._

Mightyena latched her teeth onto Daikenki's sword arm. Growling, the water type unsheathed his other sword and slashed at the mightyena. Something small and dark went flying; with a feeling of nausea Ashley realized it was a piece of Mightyena's ear…

"Whoa, hey, easy there–"

With a howl, Mightyena released his arm/leg/limb/appendage/no, not appendage/arm and darted around Daikenki, unleashing a sucker punch on his back. Between the wounded arm/leg/limb/appendage/no, not appendage/arm and the new bruise on his back, Daikenki collapsed.

"Come on back," Ashley called. "Pride cometh before a fall," she muttered to herself.

Meanwhile, setting a half poison-type against a half psychic-type was ending badly. "No use," Folii shook her head. "Venoshock."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Aj snorted. "You're about to lose, and your last resort is using a move that won't affect the target. Really."

"Of course it will affect the target," Folii said with a false innocence. "It will affect the target twice as much, even."

"What do you mean OH CRAP."

Ashley turned pale. Silver and violet flecks floated around her. "How did you know? Or were you just stalking us this whole time?"

"Security cameras," Folii shrugged. "I guess Toxica's poison hadn't quite sunken in yet. But it will come into effect right around… now."

The shards of poison shot into Ashley.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Mike, Kyle, Aj, and Ashley,<em>

_How are you guys doing? Sorry I haven't been around. The funny auras around here actually were a problem this time. But I managed to figure out a lot about Lynches. I can't quite make it to Sinnoh, but here's what I've got so far._

_First of all, a Lynch is someone with elements coded into their genes. Instead of thymine and cytosine and those things, the genes of Lynches are made of whatever element they are. So for example, Aj's genes would be made of metal and water. A special energy keeps things like electricity and fire in place. The Lynch becomes able to bring one or more elements out to fight or use in everyday life, like to fly or lift heavy things._

_Second, the reason the genes are made of elements is that the person is born under the influence of them. This can include a pokemon nearby giving the newborn some of its powers, an incident occurring close by with those elements involved, or the newborn having a word or dream in its mind as they are born. The first cause could be (using Mike here) that a zapdos or emolga was around when he was born, and thought he was cool, and gave him some flying and electric energy (although you might wonder why the heck they were watching Mike getting born…). This is also true if, for example, a pikachu gave him electric powers and a starly gave him flying powers. I think it's possible for them to also give the element through a pokeball (so they wouldn't have to watch. What a relief.). For the second way, I'll say that maybe Aj was born in a rainstorm and lightning struck a metal thing outside. The metal's energy could have overloaded and gone into the nearest living thing, and brought some water with it. Don't hate on my explanation, I know the lightning could give energy too, but it's the best I can come up with. For the last one, it's like if when Kyle was coming out (any IDEA how awkward it is writing this?), he dreamed about fighting someone or being psychic. Again, I KNOW the scenarios suck._

_Third, there's another way to create a Lynch. If someone has a previous experience with an element or two that nearly kills them (like if someone gets frostbite or almost drowns), there's some ancient ritual that can save them from death. I don't know all the details, but it does save them in most circumstances and turns them into a Lynch._

_Fourth, there's this thing called power swapping, where a Lynch can take some of their power and exchange it for greater power in another area. I haven't used Ashley as an example yet, so… It's like if Ashley wanted to be a faster flier and didn't care about her stamina, there's some way to weaken her stamina in exchange for faster flying. I think it's done in your mind, so I don't know how it works. But it works._

_Fifth, you may already know that covering up a Lynch's feet will suppress their powers. The feet are a primary outlet for the energy, so when they are covered, the energy used to fight can't get out, resulting in an inability to release the power and fight using your elements._

_Last is the reason Lynches are called that. The dictionary I have says lynch is a verb, and it means for a mob to kill someone without a trial or anything. It says nothing about whether or not the person getting killed committed a crime. To me it sounds like this relates to the fact that there are pokemon that attack Lynches at first sight. There are some pokemon that are oddly colored, but not the official "shiny" colors. These pokemon naturally attack Lynches, since they can get the Lynch's power for their own. So watch out for these guys, okay? Usually they attack in mobs._

_So here's what I've found out, and I'm not sorry if you know this already because it took me FOREVER to find out._

_I'll visit you again someday (maybe…) Just kidding, I will._

_-Kevin_

* * *

><p>She could feel the poison in her suddenly, coursing through her veins and all that s#$. She watched Diffri finish the roserade with a psybeam, but the damage had been done.<p>

"We need to make this fast," Ashley muttered, pulling out a second pokeball. "Infade, mach punch." Her infernape shot out of her pokeball and zoomed at Mightyena.

Folii drew a quick ball from behind her back. "Cradily. Stone edge."

"Avoid it," Aj said distantly.

"It wasn't for you."

"Wait–" Aj took this in.

"WHY DO YOU HATE ME?" Ashley shouted, Infade having been hit with rocks.

"Sucker punch," the resonating voice said.

"Mach punch when she gets close, Infade," Ashley said wearily.

"Mightyena's not gonna get close."

"DIFFRI!"

"Why do you assume we're so predictable?" Folii frowned. "It only makes it easier for us to win."

"She's right," Aj sighed, returning the metagross to her pokeball. "Kay, so let's make this better. Playtime, Luoir."

"If that was supposed to sound ominous, you fail so bad, it's not even funny," the lucario said upon exiting her pokeball.

"That was supposed to be ominous?" Infade wondered.

"Shut up. Get out a bone rush and spear an aurasphere with it."

"All right!" Luoir seemed excited. She pulled an aurasphere into being and conjured a bone. Then she stabbed the aurasphere with the bone, creating a… lollipop.

"IT IS NOT A LOLLIPOP!"

"Close combat, Infade," Ashley said. "Oh crap…" A wave of dizziness wafted through her brain, causing her to stumble. Ashley was positive it was from the poison.

"Constrict, and ancient power," Folii said.

"Taunt."

The cradily's tentacles/arms/appendages/see, I can say appendages for this guy/tentacles wrapped themselves around Luoir just as she reached him. Cradily was just out of her reach.

"Perfect! Now go!" Aj shouted in triumph.

Luoir grinned mischievously as her eyes started to glow sky blue. Energy pulsed down the lollipop sti–

"IT'S NOT A FREAKING LOLLIPOP!"

bone rush stick and rushed into the aurasphere. The sphere of energy started growing like a bubble that's too big and about to burst, which explains what happened next.

THUD

No, just kidding.

KA~

**BOOM!**

"Inspired by my own training with aura, in which I found you have to actually regulate the amount of energy in the aurasphere for it to not explode on you," Aj announced.

"Bomb on a stick," Folii snorted.

"Better than lollipop," Luoir muttered.

Taunt just managed to tick Infade off, causing her to immediately close combat the mightyena. The dark type fainted.

"Gengar."

"Say what now?" Ashley said in surprise. Sableye and Mightyena were both at least part dark, so Mystor would be a dark type, right?

"No one ever said I have to have only my own type of pokemon," Mystor's echoing voice explained.

#%$ it, Ashley thought, Infade can't do much against a ghost. "Infade, retu–"

"Mean look."

"REALLY! COME ON!" Infade shuddered, seeing something no one else could, and became locked in battle. "Flame wheel, but mach punch the ground at the same time to pick up speed." The infernape somersaulted in midair, wrapping herself in flames. As the wheel started "rolling", her hands came out and mach punched the ground, causing her to accelerate suddenly. Cradily's timing was thrown off with the sudden change of speed, and the flame wheel hit him. He recoiled, releasing Luoir from his tentacles/arms/appendages/see, I can say appendages for this guy/tentacles.

"Stone edge, and hold it," Folii commanded. Fast-moving rocks circled Cradily, blocking Luoir and Infade from getting near.

"Dark pulse," Aj said aloud. _At Gengar_, she thought, trying out aura telepathy for the first time in battle.

Luoir turned and launched a ripple of shadowy energy at the hovering ghost-type pokemon. _Yes!_ thought Aj in triumph. Kevin had stayed up one night to work with her on it inter-regionally. He said if she learned to use it across a long distance, she'd have no trouble with it in battle. This had been the first time she'd tried it out, though.

"Stone edge again," Folii repeated. The cocoon of rocks doubled in quantity.

"Shadow punch." Gengar's fist crackled with violet energy.

"Flare blitz, and simultaneously use mach punch," Ashley decided. Infade erupted in flames, and her hands shone white within the blaze. She shot at the gengar.

"Fighting type moves don't affect ghosts," the voice resonated.

"Mach punch is an increased priority move. In other words, it always goes first," Ashley explained cheerfully. Infade reached Gengar long before he was ready to launch his shadow punch. While the mach punch did absolutely nothing, her flare blitz did a fair amount of damage to the ghost type. He grimaced and returned the favor via his shadow punch.

"Can't get anywhere near that cradily, so use metal claw," Aj decided.

"Brick break," commanded Mystor's voice.

The two moves clashed in midair. Gengar had come from above, Luoir from below. They withdrew their arms and swiped again, still countering the other move.

"Fire punch!"

Infade's flaming hand was too fast for even Gengar to dodge. It knocked him to the ground, unconscious.

"Well done, guys," Ashley said. The headache was lingering, but had mostly subsided.

"Release," Folii said, a cruel grin spreading across her face like ink in water. Her cradily's immense stone arsenal was used up all at once, all of it zooming at the two pokemon who were right next to each other.

"CRAP!" four voices shouted at once. The sharp-edged stones impacted the fighting-types with enough force to send them flying into the other wall. Both were a complete mess; Infade and Luoir were badly bruised and cut where the stones had contacted them, and there _had_ been a lot of stones…

"Infade, you did great," Ashley said, calling the infernape back to her pokeball.

"Nice job, Luoir." Aj put her lucario back into the ultra ball.

"Froslass," the voice echoed. A cold, feminine creature came out, timer ball style.

"It would be after my fire type is gone," Ashley muttered.

* * *

><p>Kyle looked down the hole in the ground. "Aquila, return," he said briefly before descending the ladder. A faint buzzing notified him that there were people down there, and their emotions were tense.<p>

As he reached the bottom of the ladder, he wondered where all the crashing and banging noises were coming from…

* * *

><p>"Omega, your time to shine," Ashley called out, releasing the ampharos.<p>

"Um, Flit, come on out," Aj said.

"Oh, it's you who has the ampharos," Folii realized, sounding surprised. "I thought that other Lynch did… Beta or something. It made sense because of the ancient letter names."

_Delta_, Ashley remembered._ Kyle Delta_. "Nope, it's not him. Any idea where he is, by the way?" she wondered casually.

"Back room," Folii gestured carelessly over her shoulder. "Anyways. Cradily, constrict." Ashley's heart sank. She had hoped he wasn't caught, but now there were two Syzygy administrators who said he was there.

"Get through it with fire punch," Ashley instructed. Omega's hand/?/what is that thing anyway?/flipper/hand glowed like a coal ember. He shot right through the oncoming tentacles/arms/appendages/see, I can say appendages for this guy/tentacles and contacted the cradily right at the place that could have been its face. "Thunderbolt." The exhausted cradily fainted. "Your firepunch is doing well, for having been unused for so long," Ashley complimented. Omega smiled; fire punch had been his egg move, and he'd forgotten it in exchange for thunderpunch. Now that he could know so many moves at once, he'd relearned the move firepunch. It gave him immense satisfaction to be able to use it.

"Abomasnow, you're next," Folii called. "Blizzard."

"Firepunch," Ashley said easily. Omega caught the ice-grass type just before he released the blizzard. Abomasnow growled and released the storm in Omega's face.

"Omega, you all right?" Ashley asked, worried.

The ampharos's eyes were wide open. He sneezed and said, "NO. THAT WAS FREAKING COLD."

"Oh, good. Thunderfirepunch," Ashley continued.

"Bless you," Aj said distractedly. "Wait–"

Omega's hand/?/what is that thing anyway?/flipper/hand glowed like before, but now it also crackled with static. He charged at the Frost Tree Pokemon –

"Hey Abomasnow, use ice hammer," Folii suggested. Her abomasnow's hand glowed turquoise, then gathered icy energy in it. He swung his hand forward at Omega.

Who dodged.

And punched the abomasnow.

"Sno…" The massive pokemon fell to the ground.

"Ludicolo, you're next."

"Flit, use ominous wind," Aj instructed. The super-effective move hit the froslass right in the face. "Get in there with aerial ace."

"Ice shard," Mystor echoed. Froslass gathered immaterial ice energy between her fingers, but didn't release it. She waited until Flit was right in front of her, then solidified the energy into ice. Flit was halfway frozen into the ice shard: her right wing was stuck in it. The masquerain clung onto the ice for dear life as the froslass threw it at Omega's back.

"Omega, behind you," Ashley warned.

Omega turned around in time to catch the ball of ice. He inspected the combination of pokemon and solid water. "That's fighting dirty," he commented, thawing Flit out with firepunch. The weary moth shook out her wings.

"Ominous wind," _and back it with silver wind_, Aj told Flit. Froslass dodged the ominous wind in time, but realized a wave of powdery scales was coming at her too late. She fell to the ground.

"We're doing well," Aj said brightly.

"Unlike your other friends," Mystor's voice reminded her. He glanced at the pillar behind him. Aj flinched. "Ice punch," the deep voice said before she recovered. Flit let out an alarmed squeak as she froze, then fainted. Behind where she'd been hovering was a massive gray pokemon with a gold face pattern on his stomach. His hands were bigger than Aj's head –

"Are you saying I have a big head?"

**No.**

– and a round knoblike antenna sat on the top of his head. The eeriest feature of this pokemon was the single red eye in the center of his face.

"How did he get there?" Aj said in shock.

"I have Dusknoir use shadow sneak upon exiting his pokeball," Mystor said with a shrug.

"That's _really_ fighting dirty." Omega shook his head in disapproval.

"Hm. Andy, you're next up," Aj sighed.

"Ashley."

Ashley looked down. "Sagitta?"

"Let me out."

Ashley was surprised. "I can't do that. Omega's fighting right now. You can go next."

"No, I need to go somewhere."

"Where?"

"Aquila's not in his pokeball, and he wants me to go over to where he is."

"Can you fit through the hallways and such?"

"I'll be fine. I just need to get out."

Ashley flicked the pokeball off her belt. Sagitta came out and turned invisible (Latii can do that by positioning their feathers in different ways). "See you later," Sagitta whispered.

"See you. Omega, thunderpunch with an extra boost," Ashley said, raising her voice.

Omega charged for thunderbolt, but then focused the electricity into his hand/?/what is that thing anyway?/flipper/hand. He thrust the thunderpunch at Ludicolo, who staggered backward.

"Giga drain," Folii shouted. Ludicolo's… pineapple hat… glowed an intense green and shot a beam of light at Omega. It wrapped itself around Omega, under his arms, and sapped energy out of him. Omega cried out in pain.

"Thunderbolt!" Ashley said quickly. Fortunately for Omega, the electric shock was enough to stop the giga drain and knock out the ludicolo.

"Tangrowth."

"Aaargh!" Ashley clutched her head. The poison headache had returned, worse than before. The pain was literally blinding, so if she tried to tell Omega what to do, they'd both be in for it. "Omega, you're on your own for a bit," she shouted.

"Got it," Omega yelled back, launching a thunderbolt.

"Hydro pump," Aj told the blastoise. Twin jets of water exploded out of the cannons on his back. Dusknoir created a bluish-green barrier around him, scattering the water. "Gyro ball." Andy pulled his head, arms, legs, and tail into his shell and stuck out his cannons. The ends of the cannons lit up with a blue light. Andy started spinning horizontally, making the lights blur into a neon blue rim, and he accelerated in the direction of Dusknoir.

"Thunderpunch," Mystor's voice decided.

"Constrict, Tangrowth," Folii said loudly.

The bulky Vine Pokemon lashed out with at least twenty of her vines. Ten or so wrapped themselves around Omega, restraining him, but the rest caught Andy's gyro ball in midair and stopped it.

"Aqua tail," Aj hurried to say. Andy's tail came out of the shell and started spiraling water from its tip. He swung it into randomly, being unable to see, and wound up hitting the dusknoir's thunderpunch. Unfortunately for him, the punch was super effective from both the electric weakness and the aqua tail's conducting of electricity. Andy came out of the immense shell: first his head, then his arms and legs, but he was locked in Tangrowth's constrict.

"Ice beam," Aj said. Andy did a fair amount of damage to Tangrowth by freezing the vines on one side of her body.

Omega's gem glowed brilliantly gold and created a sphere of rock-element energy. He shot it at the tangrowth with a flick of his head. The power gem lodged itself into the gap between the vines, where Tangrowth's face peeked out.

"Vine whip," Folii cried. The grass type was unable to do any more than vine whip everything wildly – Omega, Andy, Dusknoir – since she couldn't see a thing. But she kept smacking everything in… well, not in sight… in reach until the power gem finally exploded.

KAAAAA~

**BOOM!**

Ashley rubbed her eyes. _Is every single pokemon…?_

"Crap," Aj sighed. "Hey, nice job Andy," she said, calling him back.

"Well done, Omega," Ashley encouraged.

"Nice one, Tangrowth," Folii said, sounding impressed that her pokemon had been able to knock all the other pokemon unconscious – including her partner's pokemon.

Mystor wordlessly called his dusknoir back.

"So we're honestly all down to our last," Aj confirmed.

"Yeah, and you better believe it when you lose," Folii returned carelessly, picking up a premier ball. Mystor switched to a dusk ball, Aj exchanged Andy's pokeball for a heal ball.

_This is it, then_, Ashley thought. _The side with more pokemon standing should have the advantage if we all transform later._ Her hand fumbled switching pokeballs; somehow the umbreon's pokeball was heavier than one of those bass drums from a drum set – which isn't heavy if you're carrying it with two hands, but with one hand? _The poison's going to take me sooner than I'd hoped_, Ashley groaned inwardly.

"Umbreon, let's play last person standing," she called out as her release phrase.

"It's your turn, so mean everything you do," Aj encouraged, throwing the heal ball.

"Be with us now!" Folii yelled somewhat majestically.

And of course, Mystor didn't say anything at all.

* * *

><p>Mike may have been a stone statue, but he wasn't dead. He was completely awake, and despite being unable to move, he could still see and think.<p>

Like, right now he was watching Aj and Ashley reach the end of their fight. And that did suck, because he wasn't there to help them.

_Lemme out of this thing…_

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, I have carried a bass drum from a drum set before. I brought it back to the band room after the winter concert, and everyone was like, "Do you need help with that?" Pshh.<strong>

**Imma give credit to Ice Princess Rinna (who hasn't written anything in a while) for the "mach punch the ground to go faster" thing. In her version, it was always iron tail that did that, but I changed it because I don't think Infernapes can learn iron tail.**

**I ended with a cliffhanger ^_^ I'm so evil...**


	15. Statues that aren't statues

**It's about time chapter 15 came out! I wanted it out for Valentine's Day, just because, but I realized I wanted to change several things last minute, and by then it was late… But anyways, I'm gong to say thank you to all my epic reviewers for pointing stuff out, commenting on other things, and generally making me happy: Azurixx, zzzp2, Axel Nightblazer, asian at the disco 265, admljmc8492, and Aj, thanks for reviewing :)**

**…**

**Yes, Aj. You read that right. Aj reviewed it. I finally gave the link to chapter one to Kyle, Aj, and Mike. Aj and Kyle are reading it for sure, although I'm not sure about Mike… Anyways, just remember this chapter that all things may not be true regarding real life and you guys and me. Saying more is a spoiler alert ;D**

**I'm done with my pre-chapter rant now. So here's chapter 15.**

* * *

><p>Upon exiting his pokeball, Umbreon twitched his ear as though there was something he wanted to flick off and raised his head. His penetrating red eyes stared right at the pokemon across from him, a sleek cat with mostly purple fur. Her legs and front were covered with yellow fur, and pink fuzz surrounded her lazy green eyes. Some of the golden spots on her back were shaped like circles with holes in them, while others were the exact size and shape of those holes. Her tail was slim with a slightly bushy end, and was the same purple color as most of her fur.<p>

Aj's Vaporeon flicked her tail and entered a ready stance, with her four legs bent and eyes set on the pokemon directly across from her. Folii's final pokemon was obviously part bug, judging from the pale yellow antennae that protruded from the top of her head. A sort of green leaf bonnet was attached to the back of her neck and extended beyond her antennae. The rest of her body seemed to be a sort of cross between a bug's body and mechanical appendages, colored a healthy translucent green. Sharp green leaflike blades adorned her arms, and her crystalline red eyes held a sense of smugness within them.

"Leaf blade," Folii began immediately. Her pokemon's arms flashed green as she rushed toward Vaporeon.

"Vaporeon, dodge and aquajet right back," Aj countered. The water type darted around the super-effective slash. Water surrounded her, and she swerved to hit the pokemon in the backside.

"Liepard, hone claws," the echoing voice commanded. The cat swiped her claws against each other, effectively sharpening both.

"If you're doing that, I'm doing this! Umbreon, rain dance," Ashley returned. Clouds materialized just below the ceiling. They darkened and started pouring down drops of water.

"Why'd you do that?" Aj wondered.

"She has a point. It doesn't affect your Umbreon, and if it knows moonlight, it actually hinders it," Mystor pointed out.

"I like rain. What's wrong with rain?" Ashley asked curiously.

Umbreon gave her a Look.

"Erm – nothing," Aj said, facepalming. "Water pulse, Vaporeon." The water pulse was larger than normal due to the rain dance.

"Leaf blade," Folii said again. The mystery pokemon sliced through the sphere, splashing water off to the side as it broke. She rushed at Vaporeon so quickly, her movements were a blur. Vaporeon drew back from the blow, and Ashley could see a shallow scratch along her foreleg and shoulder.

"Bite," Aj said quickly. Vaporeon latched onto the other pokemon's left leg, causing a screech of pain from the latter.

"Shadow ball, Umbreon," Ashley spoke. The dark type collected energy into a sphere.

"Aerial ace," Mystor said lightly. Liepard leaped several feet into the air, coming down on Umbreon with white light spiraling back from her claws. Umbreon blasted the shadow ball straight into her face and tried to dodge the incoming attack, which barely grazed his shoulder.

"Get it off your leg with bug bite," Folii said. The creature bent down and latched her own teeth onto the tail of Vaporeon, who refused to let go. A soft, steady growl arose from both pokemon, growing louder until they simultaneously released their hold. Red liquid splattered on the floor.

Vaporeon said something in pokespeak. It wasn't too hard to tell what she'd said, since Umbreon replied to her saying, "Yeah, you never did like sunlight."

Vaporeon spat blood at him.

"Shadow ball," Ashley said.

"Water pulse," Aj decided.

"Leavanny, use energy ball," Folii returned.

"Hidden power," Mystor said.

Vaporeon and Umbreon decided to fuse the moves of their own accord. The result was what looked like a water pulse, but with a core that resembled the deepest part of an ocean. It smashed right through the Leavanny's energy ball, and hit her.

Dark≤Bug

Water≤Grass

Result=Meh

The liepard, on the other hand, launched her violet hidden power around the main attacks. The many spheres of what appeared to be dragon energy flew at the eeveelutions' feet.

"Dodge," Ashley called, her head growing fuzzy from the poison again.

"Aquajet, headed with water pulse," Aj commanded.

"Hidden power," Folii yelled triumphantly.

Vaporeon hurtled straight through the liepard's hidden power, grimacing at the power of the move. _Holy shoot_, Aj thought. The damage her pokemon was taking could have been easily absorbed by the waterpulse or aquajet, but instead Vaporeon had stuck her head in front and was taking it. Had she let the move get absorbed, the power of her own attack would have been lessened.

Umbreon hesitated just long enough to look back; sure enough, his trainer was clutching her head. He'd seen everything that had happened through the surface of his pokeball – the poisoning, the venoshock, the subsequent headaches – so he recognized that Ashley wouldn't be able to tell him anything. He took it upon himself to fight alone. He countered the fire hidden power with a swift, cancelling out most of them. The remaining missed him, but he didn't stop to watch them burst into the floor. His eyes glowed briefly, making Leavanny squeak in surprise as the psychic engulfed her. Umbreon released his mental grip on her and charged head on, surrounding himself with the characteristic lavendar and orange energy of giga impact. The bug-type was able to compose herself in time for a last-minute x-scissor, right through the front of the attack.

Ashley had seen what had happened, and even though she hadn't registered the events up until now, she saw Umbreon with a certain pride. He and the leavanny had knocked each other out cold. "That was really amazing," she whispered to the unconscious Moonlight pokemon, slipping him into her heavy pokeball.

Vaporeon also hit the liepard with her water pulse-aquajet. The immense power boost from the rain made it enough to knock out the cat, but Vaporeon was exhausted from blocking the hidden power. She collapsed, too.

Folii shifted her foot in the accumulating puddle of water. "Thanks, Leavanny," she said bluntly, recalling the Nurturing pokemon.

Mystor did the same, silently.

"All right," Aj said quietly. A whisper of wind and an electric flash of light brought Aj to her water form. Ashley did the same, choosing ice.

Folii smiled at them. "Mystor and I have been transformed from the start." To prove this, she raised her hands. Leaves sped to life within a sphere above each palm, rustling by each other as they flew. Mystor lowered his head.

The two pairs of blue eyes, one sapphire, one nearly white, met each other. A silent agreement was made. That is to say, their opponents couldn't hear it. Aj's telepathic ability made the two thoughts cross in midflight, and resonate with each other.

_Let's go._

Ashley blasted a spear of ice right into the midst of Folii's leaves, slowing but not stopping them from moving. The grass Lynch's green eyes narrowed as she launched the icy razor leaf right back at Ashley. The latter would have dodged, but a poison headache stopped her from doing that.

_Didn't I just get one of these?_ Ashley remembered. They were getting more and more frequent. When it faded away, she was surprised to find her hands wet with… _oh, s#%..._

Aj took the immense puddle and created a wave. She shot it at Mystor – who disappeared?

"Where'd you – WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HOLY S#%!" Aj yelled as Mystor materialized right in front of her face. "What," Aj panted, "are you – OH CRAP NO!" Mystor acted as though he were hammering something through her forehead, then disappeared again, leaving a stunned water Lynch to wonder what had happened.

Ashley created a spiked ball of ice between her hands and threw it at Folii. She then pointed and concentrated at the spot right above where the woman was standing. Frozen rocks cascaded from out of nowhere, falling right at Folii.

Long, slender vines sprouted from Folii's upper back, swatting away the ice. Her vines then shifted into something that was a sort of cross between energy and matter, and maybe neither one. They flung themselves at Ashley, who recognized them as a giga drain, like the one Omega had found himself in not so long ago. An aurora beam blasted half of them away, but the remainder found her hand. Ashley yanked her arm away and ice punched the grass tendrils with her other fist. She was breathing hard from the exertion and poison, but the giga drain never caught her.

Aj water pulsed an ominous wind away. Suddenly, she gasped. Her head was being pierced with something sharp… Just as quickly as it had come, the sensation went. She looked at Mystor, horrified. "Curse?" she confirmed. He smiled grimly and nodded. _Crap_, she thought, _I only have a little time left…_ Aj constructed a hydro cannon and let the rain (which was still going, strangely) soak into it, making it larger. Holding the hydro cannon in one arm, she shot a whirlpool at Mystor, using the water on the floor as fuel. Once he was trapped in the vortex, she aimed the sphere of water right at him and launched it.

A crash from inside the whirlpool confirmed that the hydro cannon had hit. Aj didn't hear it, though; she was distracted by the returning pain in her head.

Ashley wasn't doing great either. Her vision had become constantly clouded, and she more often than not found a red color on her that hadn't been there before. In desperation, she shot an ice beam at Folii, who simply rolled her eyes and sidestepped it.

"Face it," the older Lynch said, "You're defeated. The sooner you give up, the sooner you'll be with that Delta guy."

"Oh, shut up," Ashley muttered, ticked off that they kept using that tactic on her. As she tried icicle crashing her opponent, she realized something.

"_Aquila's not in his pokeball."_

_If worst comes to worst, Kyle fights, but he always takes his pokemon back in first. Aquila wouldn't be out if Kyle was beaten. What a bunch of lying #%$s._

_Kyle's fine._

A triumphant smile found its way onto her mouth, even as another barrage of razor-sharp leaves hurtled at her. She ducked, sloshed across the wet (talk about an understatement) floor, and startled Folii with a direct ice punch. Ashley followed up with ice shard, hitting Folii right in the stomach.

"Frick you," Aj groaned, seeing Mystor disappear again. He reappeared right behind her and struck her in the back with shadow force. She turned around hurriedly, barely grazing him with razor shell (using her fingers, since she obviously doesn't have a scalchop). Clusters of shadowy energy converged in his hand, and he pushed her straight into the wall.

_Oh man_, Aj thought, closing her eyes. _We were supposed to save Mike and Kyle…_

A crack resonated throughout the room. Aj opened her eyes.

_What was that?_

* * *

><p>Mike watched as Aj closed her eyes and gave in.<p>

_H$# no, _he thought_. Not you too…_

_That's it. Let me out of this statue._

_If not…_

_I'll break out._

* * *

><p>All eyes were fixed on the glass pillar in the middle of the room. Well, okay, not the pillar. They were looking at what was inside the pillar. The statue.<p>

The _cracked_ statue.

"He got out," Folii whispered in wonder. "He fought his way out."

"He couldn't move," Ashley pointed out.

"Exactly. He couldn't move, but he fought his way out."

The outer statue fractured into a hundred tiny pieces and fell off Mike like water off a leaf. His gold eyes immediately found Aj and Mystor. Thunder came down from the rain clouds and struck Mystor like he was a lightning rod. He stumbled and released Aj, who shot a jet of boiling water at him. Mystor disappeared again. Folii had come to her senses and unleashed the biggest frenzy plant Ashley had ever seen. Several things happened at once.

Aj's curse hit her for the last time.

The poison finally overcame Ashley.

A frenzy plant and shadow force shattered a glass pillar and hit the person inside.

The rain stopped.

* * *

><p>Sagitta shifted her feathers so that she was visible again. "What's up?" she asked.<p>

Aquila glanced across Lake Acuity. "We're going to need to intervene at the right time," he replied quietly.

"Couldn't I have just stayed and fought? Either way I'd be fighting them," Sagitta said, frowning.

"They're doing well. Kyle and I agreed that they might need backup, and I wouldn't be able to handle all the flying on my own," the latios explained. "I figured I ought to ask you."

"What if they lose because there weren't enough pokemon? Ashley and Aj are powerful, but both of them were already down one after leaving Never and Sola with Ash and Dawn," Sagitta said frantically. "I can't just… Aquila, I don't have a good feeling about this… They're not going to win…"

Aquila didn't know what to say.

"_Latios, the Eon Pokemon. A highly intelligent Pokémon. By folding back its wings in flight, it can overtake jet planes._

"_Latias, the Eon Pokemon. Its body is covered in a down that can refract light in such a way that it becomes invisible_," a pokedex recited.

"The Eon duo: a highly intelligent, inseparable duo of a Latias and Latios. Latios has high attack, and Latias has high defense. Together, they are virtually unstoppable," Kyle added. He was sitting on the edge of the shore, looking out onto the lake.

"What are you trying to say?" Aquila asked sharply.

"You're exactly the right ones for this," Kyle replied. "You guys are a pair. You're linked. Together, formidable. Separate, lonely. It's hard to say it," Kyle sighed. "Basically, you guys will have to mess with Syzygy in a bit. Your speed and teamwork is ideal for this."

"So meanwhile, do we just sit and wait?" Sagitta asked.

Kyle nodded grimly. "We just need an opening, now. They've already lost."

* * *

><p>Ashley came to in a pitch-black room. Her arms had fallen asleep above her head – <em>Above my head? What the heck?<em> She yanked her hands downward and felt cold metal keeping her wrists up. _Frick._

Shifting herself into a slightly more upright position, she heard a few clinks from down at her ankles. So she was chained there too… What she really hated, though, was what she was wearing on her feet. Not just feet; it went all the way up to her knees. Syzygy had put boots on her, effectively covering up half of her legs as well as her feet. She'd never understood why, but shoes and things that cover feet in general made it as good as impossible to transform. Knee-high boots were the ultimate impossible thing to take off, but with her hands over her head, even slippers wouldn't have been possible. Well, no, that was a lie.

Her eyes adjusted to what little light came in through the crack under a door twenty feet away. Several feet to her right was someone else – Aj, judging by the long hair. Beyond Aj was another silhouette, who she assumed to be Mike. Both were unconscious and in the same position as her.

Ashley heard a low groan: Mike. "Are you awake?" she said quickly.

"No." The figure shifted. "Ow. $#%ing frenzy plant…"

"Any idea what happened?"

"No. I mean, yeah, you fainted, then Aj fainted, then I got hit with frenzy plant and shadow… dark… That giratina move."

"Shadow force."

"Yeah, that."

"How'd you manage to get out of that thing?"

"What – Oh, J's statue? I don't really know. I could see and hear everything that was going on, and I just thought that I wanted to get out and fight, too." Mike shrugged. "I'm not really sure myself. It was kind of desperation and azelf-style willpower."

Ashley pondered this. The room's darkness didn't allow Mike to see the realization dawning on her face. "So you're saying," she began, "you fought –"

A blinding light interrupted her: the door had opened. Neither Ashley nor Mike could see a thing. "Who's first?" a familiar voice asked.

"Fyr?" Ashley said incredulously. She knew Fyr was a Lynch, but a Syzygy one?

"Haven't seen you in a while," the voice commented smugly. "But you didn't answer my question. Who's first?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ashley asked coldly.

"Just answer. You find out later, and by then it won't matter anyways."

"We're not answering until you tell us," Mike decided. Ashley closed her mouth in relief. She hated her inability to keep her resolve strong.

Fyr huffed, giving in. "First on the table."

"That doesn't make any –" Mike started.

"It does," Ashley broke in, turning pale. She was starting to get her vision back; she just barely saw the outline of Fyr standing in the doorway, along with a man and woman dressed in dark clothes. "She means first to get amputated."

Mike remembered Cynthia's words. "Not that," he groaned.

"Will you answer yet?" Fyr muttered.

Ashley recalled the poem Kyle had recited to her so long ago – heart of steel, eyes of a dragon, two wings of lightning, mind of a fighter, and dark's brightest light. They were going by literal terms, so "heart of steel" would kill Aj. "Mind of a fighter" would be Kyle, according to them, and the "wings of lightning" were most literally Mike. _He'd lose his flying ability_, Ashley thought._ He'd be a bird without wings. That's like a person without a head… "Eyes of a dragon" would mean I'd be blind. I'd have my powers, though. What about dark's brightest light?_

"First off," Mike said, "When you say 'heart of steel,' would that mean the whole hea… no, that sounds dumb…"

"We'd take the whole heart," Fyr said. "If what you're after is her life, no need to worry there. She'd get an artificial one. We've perfected one that would work perfectly."

"I'll go," Ashley said, surprising not only Mike and Fyr, but also herself. "Eyes aren't a necessary organ, technically. Tons of people live blind."

Fyr looked apprehensive. "There's no turning back on this."

"I'm going first."

"Excellent. That's two down," Fyr said, for some reason happy.

"Two?" Ashley asked in confusion.

"Eyes of a dragon is one. Dark's brightest light is two," Fyr explained slowly.

"Dark's brightest light is me? I understand the dark part, but brightest light?" Ashley wondered.

"We discovered it when the old administrator was dying. He shouted something about seeing the light, which is SO cliché drama movie, but it gave us our answer," Fyr replied, looking pointedly at Ashley.

The dark type Lynch stared back in shock. "You mean," she whispered – her voice gave out on her – "I'm going to –"

"The dark's brightest light," Fyr stated, "is your life."

* * *

><p>"I hate endless rooms of toxic waste."<p>

The absol who had just spoken averted another puddle of poison, only to find that she'd lodged herself in a dead end. Sighing loudly, she walked slowly backward. Around then Sola realized how quiet Ash and Dawn were being. "Is everything all right?" she asked them.

"Yeah," Dawn said, her voice indicating that it was anything but.

"What's up?" the dark type ignored her answer.

"What you said," Ash blurted out, "about Crateron being less than a human or pokemon because he's neither one – did you mean that?"

Sola gave him a long stare. "Yes," she finally admitted.

"But Ashley is one of his type," Dawn pointed out. "Your own trainer –"

"She doesn't like it," Sola said with a shrug. "She feels alienated with the ability to fly, out of place with the power to freeze, and completely alone in being synonymous with 'evil'. That's what being a dark type means. People assume you're evil. Maybe that's why she chose to train me and Umbreon – she feels like she has more friends that way."

"Still, the fact that you called your trainer… Forget trainer, your friend. You called your friend 'less of a being than a pokemon or human'," Dawn reminded her.

"I don't know what it is, really," Sola said, taking a risk and leaping over a pool of sludge. She cleared it, turned around to face Ash and Dawn, and said, "Crateron was different. He deserved that. Maybe Ashley and Kyle and the rest don't deserve to be grouped with him, and they're just as legitimate as you or me. But that doesn't mean they necessarily are." Never was waiting at the door on the other end, having glided through the air like an emolga. "Anyways, let's get through this disgusting room. Hey, this puddle looks like a sheep!" Sola jumped… straight into the acidic sheep. "That's messed up!" she yelled at the motionless muck. "I hate sheep!"

* * *

><p>There wasn't much running through Ashley's mind as she walked through the dimly lit underground tunnels. What was going through her head didn't have anything to do with the Syzygy members surrounding her or the teenage administrator taking her to her death. It wasn't related to the handcuffs on her wrists or the uncomfortable boots she kept tripping over. It didn't even relate to Mike's last minute protests against her going first – if anyone had to go, it may as well be someone who wasn't going to die from it. That was his logic, anyways. But her mind had other ideas to occupy it.<p>

About Kyle.

_What if Aj was right?_ Ashley wondered. _What if I really do like him and never knew? There's got to be some reason she thought it was true… I'll never know now. He'll never know, and I'll never tell him. But maybe I don't like him anyways…_

It was driving her insane. She was mostly sure she'd know what being in love felt like when she felt it, but then again, how would she know that for sure?

_Kyle won't even know I'm dead_, she thought bitterly.

_You're not going to die._

Ashley gasped audibly, earning a dirty look from Fyr. _Aj?_ she thought.

_You're not going to die, Ashley. We're going to get out of here._ She was using aura telepathy.

_What?_ Ashley though._ Aj, what's going on over there?_

This time there was no answer.

Fyr stopped in front of a door. She pressed her fingers into a keypad on the wall, and it slid open. "Any last thing you'd like to see with your eyes?" she asked, obviously trying to rub it in. She still hadn't gotten over her failed pwnage.

Ashley considered it. There were all sorts of poetic, pretty things to say. The world when it's raining, the lake above their heads, the night sky. Her friends. But the one thing she really, really wanted to say back was –

"Your as* far, far away."

Fyr's jaw clenched, and she strode off into the next room, her procession of willing humans and a not-so-willing Lynch following close behind.

Meanwhile, a Lynch and a pair of pokemon found their way in.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, I'm an evil cliffhanger writer again. At least I finished it. And I'm pretty satisfied with how I revealed the interpretation of "dark's brightest light".<strong>

**Why I absolutely had to put in the sheep: I was at honor band like half a month ago, and it was break. These two friends of mine (tuba and percussion, which could potentially tell Aj who it was) were talking, and the first thing I heard of their conversation was "It looks like a sheep." I found this hilariously random, even after I found out they were talking about the sheet music to a song on piano. So of course I HAD to include it in there.**

**So happy Valentine's Day to you all, late or not.**


	16. Going on a Wild Dragon Chase

**Heya :D Here's chapter 16, finally. This is my longest chapter! Over 7000 words! Counting the author's notes. Anyway, read on...**

* * *

><p>"Vulpes, flamethrower!"<p>

Kyle's ninetales came out and melted the steel door into a pile on the ground. The two Lynches inside the now open room flinched at the light rushing in. Vulpes blasted the hand and foot restraints off Aj and Mike.

"Found you guys," Kyle said brightly. "Did you fall asleep or something?"

"No," said Aj, "we just can't see a freaking thi– "

"AAH %# MY HANDS FELL ASLEEP!"

While Mike tried to wake his hands up, Aj realized Kyle and Vulpes had come alone (except for the other pokeballs on Kyle's belt). "I thought you said you came with Sagitta and Aquila," Aj mentioned.

"They went to find Ashley," he said briefly. "Once you guys get the boots off, we're heading out to find her too."

* * *

><p>Ashley was expecting the eerily sterile-looking room and nondescript operating table. She was expecting the Syzygy grunts to make her lie down on it. She even expected Fyr to make some final witty remark.<p>

"Don't worry. It'll be over soon, and it won't be quite as bad for your friends."

She wasn't expecting to see her friends or pokemon again. She didn't expect her boots to come off. She didn't expect to ever know if Aj had been right all along. She didn't expect to make it out alive.

_If we expect the unexpected, then the expected becomes unexpected._

Ashley jumped. _Sagitta, what are you saying?_

_I'm not sure myself. But it sounds cool._

Aquila cut in. _We're coming to get you. Stay right where you are, stay conscious if possible, and whatever you do, don't die._

_Hurry_, Ashley thought. The connection was already gone.

* * *

><p><em>Aquila?<em> the female Eon Pokemon wondered,_ Where are – ow._ The latias rubbed her nose. _Well, I found you._

Her male counterpart sighed. _You always were pretty clueless,_ he thought, carefully concealing his thoughts from being telepathically communicated. _Any sign of her?_ he asked, switching back to telepathy.

Sagitta almost shook her head before remembering she was invisible. _No. She's disappeared._

Aquila swore mentally, which meant something was really wrong. The latios had almost as clean a mouth as his trainer. _So she's asleep, then._

_Probably hypo… dermia… wait_, Sagitta thought,_ that's the opposite of a fever. I mean that medicine thing. An IV? That can't be right. The word sounds like a sneeze and amnesia._

Aquila frowned. _Anesthesia?_

_Yeah! That!_

_What's that have to do with hypodermia?_

Sagitta scratched the back of her feathery neck._ Uh, not sure._

The latios scanned the empty tunnel with his invisible eyes. _That can't be good. It means they've already begun._

_Hey, it also means it won't hurt. And anyways, it doesn't mean we're stopping to think_, Sagitta said urgently. Aquila was certain that if he could have seen her, he would have seen a look of concern and determination. _Let's go_, she said in emphasis, speeding off in one direction.

As he followed, the larger of the two Eon Pokemon laughed softly. _Clueless or not, there's no stopping her_, he thought to himself.

* * *

><p>Sola swiped the blade on her head upwards, firing from it a crescent of dark energy. The last of the grunts fell with a short groan. "And that is why they're called grunts," she said calmly. "Cause they do."<p>

"Now what?" Dawn wondered. They'd reached a room where it seemed a major fight had occurred: puddles of water, shards of ice, and bits of leaves were strewn about the floor. A once-intimidating glass column acted as a centerpiece to the room, but only the very top and bottom remained. The rest had been blasted to bits – from the inside, evidently, judging from the amount of glass fragments scattered all over the room. There was a door on the right and on the left, where the twenty or so grunts had come in. The question now was right or left?

"There were more grunts who came in from the right," Ash reasoned. "So we should go–"

"Left," finished Dawn. Piplup nodded sagely.

"Left? I was gonna say right! There's more security on the right."

"No, there were more grunts who weren't particularly needed on the left. Instead, they could be watching over something else," Dawn explained.

"Dawn, it's obviously the side with more grunts. I mean, face it, since when are grunts of any sort smart enough to not lunge at every intruder that comes by?"

"Bikabika." Pikachu agreed.

"Grunts just do what they're to–"

"All right, all right," Sola butted in, "Let's not get our feathers all ruffled. And no," she said, before Ash could interrupt, "I don't care that you don't have feathers. We're going right because I say so."

Ash shot Dawn a smug look. She returned it with her scary ticked-off smile.

If they had chosen the right (what? Of course they chose the right path! I just SAID that!) the CORRECT path, there wasn't any immediate sign of it. It was just more hallways… and a fishy-looking panel at the end of a corridor.

"Dead end," Ash said immediately. "Let's g–"

"Idiot, look."

"What? I see a secure-looking metal panel. What am I supposed to realize?"

Sola's blade turned silvery-lavendar. She swiped it through the air and released a psychic sliver of the same color. It hit the panel and went right through, causing a brief clatter to sound from inside.

"Pokeballs," she said shortly.

"How do we open it?" Ash wondered.

"Chu." Pikachu jumped up and latched onto a tiny metal handle on the end of the panel. "Piiiiika~" he said, charging electricity in his cheeks, "CHUUUUUUU!" He let go of the small door, which swung open. "Pika!" he said in accomplishment.

"Um… good job, but Pikachu…"

"Ka!" A cascade of pokeballs rolled out and hit Pikachu on the head. He let out a pained "Cha~"

Piplup hopped down from Dawn's head and tapped the button on one pokeball. A glaceon emerged from the flash.

"Cirque! Good to see you again," Sola greeted the glaceon cheerfully. "This is Mike's glaceon," Sola explained for Ash and Dawn's benefit.

"Hey. Are you guys looking for someone?" Cirque asked. She had a soft voice.

"Yeah. Seen Mike or Aj around?"

"I did. We were frozen along with Mike, since our pokeballs were on his belt. They didn't remove the pokeballs until after he unfroze himself and they took him to that room with Aj and Ashley." Cirque glanced back at the way they'd come. "I know the way there, and also to the… erm, operating room. I was watching as we came through the halls, and they also mentioned the room they'd get… cut." Cirque shuddered.

"That's good though. Can you take us there?" Sola asked.

"Sure! But we should probably take these guys too," she replied, indicating the spilled pokeballs. There were enough for Ashley's and Aj's pokemon to be there too.

Dawn scooped up a handful and dropped them in her bag. "Come on Ash, let's hurry," she urged him.

"Right," he agreed, shoving the Lynches' pokeballs in his own backpack.

It wasn't until they were halfway back to the large room that Dawn realized something. "Hey! The left WAS the correct path! I told you!"

Ash gave her an evil look.

* * *

><p>"Not again," Kyle groaned. Another dead end?<p>

"What's up?" Aj asked.

"I don't know. I'm just having trouble right now," he responded shortly.

"No, I mean what's up?"

Kyle took note of her expression. She was serious about something. "What do you mean?"

"Not much disrupts your sixth sense."

She was right about that. When you're a psychic type, it's almost hard not to concentrate. "I dunno, I'm just a little stressed or something," he tried to brush it off.

Aj stopped so suddenly, Mike crashed into her. Kyle noticed. "We have to keep moving, or else we'll be too late."

"Stressed." Aj tried the word in her mouth. "Worried that we won't find Ashley in time."

"Yeah, sure, now come on." Kyle continued around the next corner.

Aj gave Mike a look of surprise. "I thought it was just Ashley who's like that with Kyle," she said in wonder, running after the psychic Lynch.

Mike had no clue what she was talking about.

* * *

><p><em>FOUND HER! SHE'S HERE!<em> Sagitta screamed mentally, teleporting through a door into the room. Aquila followed right after her, and both rematerialized inside, still invisible.

The latias scanned the face of her unconscious trainer. It was surprisingly peaceful, given the situation. Any trace of handcuffs or otherwise were gone. Wires were attached to her all over, but the rise and fall of her chest indicated she was still alive. Syzygy scientists were rushing around, typing things into monitors, and talking in low voices. Sagitta overheard the conversation between one grunt and Fyr.

"You've got the eyes, so finish her already," the administrator hissed. Sagitta's own eyes widened – Were they too late?

"It's not quite so simple as that." The latias was impressed by the willingness of the underling to talk back like that. Grunts tended to be more obedient and unquestioning. "She's dragon type right now, since we needed the eyes of a dragon, but for the dark's brightest light, we've got to get her into dark mode first. Should be soon, though."

"Hurry up. I want to get her with my own hands," Fyr sighed impatiently.

Sagitta realized Ashley's boots were off, and there were wings on her back. The wings were slowly shrinking back into her, probably to make way for the emergence of the dark type. For the first time, Sagitta noticed Ashley's eyelids.

_Holy crap_, she thought with a strained tone, _her eyes are gone._

Aquila glanced over and cringed at the flatness of the Lynch's eyelids. Nothing bloody or disgusting showed beneath the skin; just an undeniable emptiness. _This can't happen_, he realized. _Absolutely no way this can happen… if it does…_ He shook off the thought. He started to descend on the table, but found something solid beneath him. Feeling the barrier, he said, _It's a protect wall. I can't get through._ Ashley was right there, too…

_Okay_, Sagitta thought, obviously panicking, _don't panic. She's not going to die._

Aquila nodded, even though he knew Sagitta couldn't see him. _That's right. She can't die. There's no chance. If she died, he'd never be the same again…_

* * *

><p>"Again?" Aj said in amazement, staring at the dead end.<p>

Kyle groaned._ Aquila, I need some help. Any idea where to go?_

_She's right here,_ the latios replied from Kyle's right.

_Thanks_, Kyle thought, running towards Aquila's voice.

_There's a barrier around her. I can't get through._

The psychic Lynch clenched his teeth. _Distract them. Stall._

_Got that._

Since he knew for certain the location, Kyle started running faster. Aj and Mike sprinted right behind him, hoping for a right way.

Suddenly Mike grabbed Aj's arm and yanked her to a stop, yelling, "Kyle, wait!"

Kyle hesitated, but only barely. He slowed to a halt, letting Mike pass him.

In a flash of lightning, Mike became an electric type. He placed the palm of his hand flat on one wall, and his other hand on the other side. The corridor lit up suddenly, sparking between the sides of the tunnel. Just as soon, it dimmed. Aj smelled a vague scent of smoke.

Mike turned around. "It was set to shock whoever went through next. It's clear now."

"How could you tell?" Aj wondered.

"I was expecting them to do something like this, and anyways, I'm half electric." Mike glanced back at Kyle. "Let's go."

None of them needed a second word. Mike zapped a few more traps into malfunctioning before they reached a fork that Kyle found important. "Right here," he said steadily.

When it was determined that there weren't any traps in that direction, they proceeded into the new hallway.

* * *

><p>"Administrator Fyr, the subject is completely a dark type now. Not a fleck of dragon left." The scientist who had spoken unhooked the last IV from Ashley's arm.<p>

Fyr's mouth spread into a grin. "Finally." She picked up a surgical scalpel and held it like a dagger.

"Uh, you might want to consider…" the scientist's words were reduced to a mumble when he saw the look Fyr gave him.

The Syzygy Lynch strode up to the table with Ashley on it. She raised the knife…

…which flew out of her hand.

"What the…" She looked up at the hovering tool. When she swiped at it to get it back, it simply flew out of the way, tantalizingly just beyond her reach. Not to be outsmarted, Fyr took a slightly smaller but equally sharp object from a tray beside her.

Did I say "Not to be outsmarted"?

I misspoke.

That thing flew away too.

Before she could even try and take something else, everything with a sharp edge in the room spontaneously decided to hover high in the air. Fyr glanced at the door – no one was there.

"ALL RIGHT, WHO'S DOING THIS?" Fyr yelled. "IT'S NOT FUNNY!"

A giggle sounded from above her head. "It is, actually. You just have no sense of humor."

"Sagitta, way to blow it," said a slightly lower voice.

"Aw, you're no fun…"

The door swung open of its own accord. Several seconds later, a trio of Lynches appeared in the tunnel beyond the door.

"Thanks guys," Kyle said briefly, pulling out an ultraball. "Wait, what–?" The ultraball left his hand before he could throw it.

"What, you thought you were the only one with psychic pokemon?" Fyr snorted. A gardevoir appeared at her side, eyes glowing pink. "Leave now," she said with a dangerous tone to the scientists. They did, without further persuasion. "Come on, throw another one," she taunted.

"No thanks," Kyle declined the offer. "But it's all right, I'll just do it myself." He was in psychic form, but he quickly materialized his fighting form and drew his sword.

"Really. Fighting type versus not just psychic type, but psychic type using protect. Give the boy a prize," Fyr snickered.

Kyle raised the long blade…

…and smashed the Protect.

"Wait, wha~" Fyr thought fast. "Gardevoir, psychic!"

Mike shot a thunderbolt through the gap in the protect. The Embrace Pokemon diverted her eyes from Kyle to the thunderbolt. It was deflected into the upper portion of the psychic wall. Shards of the energy shield fell from where it hit and disappeared.

The hovering blades rained down around them, luckily not hitting anyone (I know, you all wanted someone to DIE…). A beam of pinkish energy and a sphere of dragon matter shot into the psychic shield, dissipating it completely. As Sagitta and Aquila reappeared, Kyle took the opportunity to charge a focus punch on the end of his sword. Aj blasted a water pulse from her palm, and Mike fired off an electro ball from his. Both moves were easily diverted with the use of the gardevoir's psychic.

"All right, now stop!"

Kyle's eyes narrowed as he realized what Fyr was doing. She was holding Ashley upright, a surgical blade under her chin. "The next move that gets fired off… Well, I really don't need to say it."

"That's right."

Fyr had essentially no time at all to register the fist flying at her nose. "#$%!" she yelled, completely off guard. The knife was still in her hand, but her hand was at her side now.

"Because it won't happen anyways."

Ashley's eyes were still closed, but she was evidently awake enough to have suckerpunched the older Lynch. She was standing on her own, and had a grin on her face. "Never trust a dark type to be asleep. Ever."

Kyle swung the charged focus blast at the gardevoir, blasting her back into the wall. He picked up his fallen ultraball and clicked it into place on his belt.

"YES! NOW WE CAN GET OUT OF HERE!" Mike whooped. He seemed happy. But then, he _had_ been there for a while.

Fyr growled like an arcanine and hurled the scalpel at Ashley's back. Aquila easily deflected it with psychic. "Move it, people!" he yelled.

Aj and Mike made a break for it without hesitation, as did Aquila and Sagitta. Kyle, however, was smart.

"I TAKE OFFENSE TO THAT!"

**I didn't say you're not smart!**

" 'However'?"

**Shut up. Moving on.**

He hadn't forgotten that Ashley was sightless. She hadn't moved anywhere, but was standing awkwardly with a slight frown on her face. Her eyelids were still shut, and it was evident she had no idea where to go. Kyle couldn't just levitate her with psychic because she was a dark type at the moment – immune to psychic. She could turn back to normal, but Fyr was already coming to her senses.

The fastest and easiest thing to do was also the most awkward.

Kyle did it anyways.

Sheathing his sword, he strode quickly over to his friend. Ashley felt something grasp her right hand, and she nearly drew away before realizing it was Kyle's. She could tell by its shape – his hand was long and thin. Mostly bone, but it was rough and warm.

"Come on." Kyle pulled her hand in one direction, and she followed. She quickened her pace as he started running. There was still no way for her to see where they were going, but hey. He was her friend. She trusted him.

By the time they caught up with the others, Aj and Mike had their pokeballs back. "Hey, there you are," Sola said cheerfully. "Ashley, your pokeballs are here…" her voice trailed off when she sensed something wrong. "Oh." No one had told her about the eyes.

Ashley ignored it. "Thanks," she said, holding out her left hand; the one not held by a Lynch. Dawn deposited some shrunken-down pokeballs in her hand, and the absol tapped the button on one. Sola disappeared into it with a flash of red light.

"So where are we right now?" Ashley wondered casually.

"This is where we fought Folii and Mystor," Aj said. "It's not much different, just a mess." She glanced over at Mike, who was examining the remains of the glass pillar. "Mike, you're going to step on~"

Mike swore loudly and hopped away from the wreckage. He brushed a sharp piece of glass off his foot.

"So now we're just heading back the way we came, then?" Ash checked.

"Yeah."

"How strange," a voice drawled from the exit, "Aren't you guys supposed to still be getting cut apart?"

Aj was the only one who recognized him. "Hey – Iro?"

"At your service," the green-and-silver haired teenager replied jauntily. "Taught you Bankai, didn't I?"

"In a sense," Aj admitted with a shrug. "You're from Syzygy?"

"Naw. I'm from freaking _Team Galactic_."

Fyr and her gardevoir came out of the door they'd come in through. "Now be good little kids and come with us."

"For one thing," Mike said solemnly, "we're not little kids. And for another," he smiled devilishly, "who ever said we were good? Kyle, it's been a while since I tag battled with you. Want to see if we're still able?"

"Sure," Kyle said, letting go of Ashley's hand. "Guys, back off." He pulled the ultraball back out again. "Erra, I need some help."

"Cirque," Mike said briefly.

"Leafeon."

"Rockeon!" yelled Fyr.

"WHAT?"

"I'm kidding. Kabutops."

"Biika…" Pikachu sighed.

Kyle turned around. "If you guys ever see an opening, go right through it and get out of here."

"What about you guys?" Aj wanted to know. Kyle had already turned back to the battle. His espeon and Mike's glaceon were ready to fight.

"Cirque, blizzard sand!" Mike called.

"Erra, swiftbeam!" Kyle shouted.

"Slash it!"

"Avoid it!"

The storm the glaceon blew into existence was laced with stinging particles of sand. The stars from the espeon's swift flashed with the iridescent color of psybeam. Fyr's kabutops blocked the stars from hitting, yet the power of the move caused his swords to take damage themselves. Leafeon was nimbly avoiding the ice storm.

"Psychic," Kyle suggested.

Erra's eyes glowed pink, and within moments her teammate's blizzard sandstorm was glowing the same color. She maneuvered the sand and ice in such a way that it wouldn't have been able to manage naturally, and surrounded the leafeon completely before hitting. The battered Verdant Pokemon sank to the ground.

"Sand attack your mud shot!" Fyr called out.

Kabutops created a mud shot with larger particles of sand embedded in it. Erra directed the stream of ice and grit right into the attack, negating it completely.

"Flareon, quick attack firebite!" Iro wasted no time in commanding his Flareon.

"Shadow breath," Mike countered. Cirque leaped forward.

"Toxic stars," Kyle said.

Fyr was bewildered at all the combo moves. "Aqua jet!" She came up with an idea. "And night slash!"

And then stuff happened. But it's a secret.

"YOU~"

**I'm kidding! Jeez, Aj.**

Iro's flareon bared her teeth. Her fangs glistened with the darkness of Bite, then erupted with Firefang's heat. Quick attack made it possible for her to dart at Erra at an insanely fast rate, catching the psychic type in the side with her teeth.

Erra flinched.

"WRONG TIME FOR FLINCH TO KICK IN!"

Cirque, meanwhile, shot her frost breath/shadow ball directly into the incoming aquajet and night slash. It slowed, but didn't stop, the kabutops from taking a swipe at her. The glaceon grimaced from both the impact of the aquajet and the night slash that nearly took one of her… Uh, ribbons?... off.

"Yeah, I don't know what it is either," Mike said.

**You're not supposed to be talking to me.**

"Oh yeah." Mike took this in. "Ah well. Cirque, follow up by copying that flareon! Quick attack icebite!" Cirque did essentially the same thing Iro's flareon had done, except her canines froze over. She latched onto the kabutops's leg, nearly cracking his exoskeleton.

"Oh, you're so smart, with that sciency vocabulary."

**Aj, shut up.**

"Hemolymph," Kyle snickered.

**Oh. My gosh. Just get back to the battle.**

"BUG JUICE FOR THE WIN! Poison wind!" Mike yelled.

"Do what I told you before the _flinch_," Kyle said, putting scorn on the word _flinch_.

"Flame blast," Iro said. "With smoke for special effects."

"That pun wasn't funny," Fyr told him.

"It's not a pun!" He thought about it. "Oh. It sort of is."

"Kabutops, mega drain."

Erra's poison-laced swift didn't have far to travel before reaching Flareon (who was still latched on to her). The fire type finally let go, receiving a poison status ailment. She returned the favor with a fire blast, boosted with flamethrower. Erra recognized the purple smoke that preceded the flames as Smog. She coughed as it entered her lungs, forgetting about dodging the fire heading her way–

**CRASH!**

"Been awhile since there were sound effects," Aj commented.

**SHUT. THE HECK. UP.**

"You shut up."

**ELSE I KILL YOU.**

"AAAAAHHHHH NOOOOOOO~!"

Kabutops directed his mega drain at the already weak Erra, causing enough damage to knock her out. He then got hit by the toxic ice wind Cirque was launching at him, which pretty much took back what he recovered from mega drain. Also, it poisoned him.

"Vulpes, you're on now. Show that Flareon what a real flame blast looks like," Kyle said, tossing out a greatball.

"Surf that ninetales," Fyr nodded at Vulpes.

"Sanded flamethrower," Iro said.

"Blizzard again," Mike said to Cirque.

The glaceon, still grimacing at the cut in her ribbon, launched a blizzard that eradicated the kabutops before he could get near Vulpes. Flareon's flamethrower flew straight at Cirque, immersing her in the flames.

"S#$!" Mike yelled, fumbling for his glaceon's pokeball. He returned the battered Fresh Snow pokemon to the mechanical object. "Sandslash, you're next."

Iro's flareon was discovering what a real flame blast looks like: scary. She fainted from pure fright.

"Aargh– Ursaring," Iro grunted.

"Gardevoir," Fyr said.

Ash looked over at Dawn. Her eyes were shining. "What's up?" he asked.

"I never knew there were so many combination moves," she said in awe.

"Well, you can use some in contests if ever we get out of here," Ash reminded her.

"Pika," Pikachu realized. He turned toward Aquila. "Pikapika. Chu. Pi."

"You know, you have a really good point there." Aquila's expression turned to one of resignation. "No one would ever agree, though. They're too attached to one another, and after getting separated like that –"

"Piiiiiiiiika," Pikachu interrupted, an evillish smile growing on his mouse mouth.

Aquila smirked. "Ah, well, there's that…"

"Pip pip pip," Piplup agreed, nodding in consent.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ash wondered.

Ursaring was getting beat up by Mike's sandslash, while Fyr's gardevoir and Kyle's ninetales were in a battle of minds – also known as, a completely motionless battle. Or, a boring one to watch, unless you're psychic. Which Dawn wasn't.

"Sagitta, would you like to work Pikachu's plan out with me?" Aquila asked cordially.

Sagitta seemed indecisive. "They'll get mad."

"We'll get all of them, eventually," Aquila promised. "It'll be a bit disorienting, and sure, they might panic, but it's for the best."

"All right then. These two first," Sagitta agreed, indicating Ash and Dawn.

"What are you do–"

"Hold on tight to your pokemon." Aquila touched Ash's head, and Sagitta grasped Dawn's shoulder.

All six (including Pikachu and Piplup) vanished.

"All right, brick break!" Mike yelled. Sandslash finished off the Ursaring.

"Vulpes, come back," Kyle said quietly, returning his still conscious pokemon to her greatball.

"Why'd you do that?" Aj wanted to know.

"Psychic battles are when the pokemon – or, psychic types – are trying to psychologically freak the other pokemon out. They try to pull out embarrassing or painful memories, in particular. When it starts to show on the outside, the pokemon is losing grip," Kyle explained. "Vulpes was starting to shake." Not for lack of trying, though: Fyr's gardevoir was still standing, but just barely.

"Zebstrika, flame charge," said Iro.

"Apade, help me out. Nightleaf."

"Sandslash, crush claw."

Sagitta suddenly appeared in front of Aj. "We're taking you away," she said.

"Say wha– H$## NO!"

"I told you," Sagitta sighed to Aquila, who had just materialized beside her.

"You weren't supposed to tell her," Aquila protested, making a grab for Aj's arm.

Aj pulled her hand out of the way. "We came here to get Mike. He should go first."

Aquila gave her a Look.

"She has a point," Sagitta said.

Aquila gave her a Look.

"Sort of."

"Just go," Ashley spoke for the first time in a while. "It'll be all right."

"No."

Even though she couldn't see, Ashley knew what Aj's face looked like just judging from her voice. If she was guessing right, it was hard and near panic. "Sagitta, Aquila, can you guys get both Mike and Aj? It sounds like Shiolu's up now, and he can handle it."

Mike's luxray was doing pretty well right then. "Yeah, but he won't last forever," Aquila reasoned.

"Come on. Anything to get these guys out." Sagitta latched her hand onto Aj's shoulder. "Get Mike and let's go." As Aquila flew silently over, Sagitta said to her trainer, "We'll be back soon for you guys."

"Thunderbite spark!" Mike called, not noticing the blue hand on his arm until it was too late. "What–"

He and Aquila teleported to safety, along with Sagitta and Aj.

Kyle spun around in surprise. "Where'd they go?" he asked.

"Aren't you guys still fighting?" Ashley pointed out, evading the answer.

Kyle's gallade had knocked down Fyr's gardevoir, and moved on to fighting her ludicolo. Shiolu, surrounded in electricity and ready to strike, found the zebstrika a difficult target to hit. He finally did, but Zebstrika naturally had Motor Drive.

"…"

"Did you honestly just find that out?" Apade said in wonder.

"Shut the he– OH S#$!"

The luxray shot across the room, badly burnt. He toppled over the base of the pillar where his trainer had been a few hours before, and lay still.

"Shoot," Kyle gritted his teeth. "Strike, help us out."

A zangoose emerged from the luxury ball. "Nightscissor. Apade, psycho slash."

The gallade's normally lavendar psycho cut was a much darker shade of violet from the night slash mixed in. The combination move struck Fyr's ludicolo in the beak. The Carefree Pokemon retaliated with stone edge, which Apade (unsuccessfully) tried to dodge. Kyle's gallade stayed standing and repeated the psycho slash, but the ludicolo dodged.

Strike's dark green x-scissor missed the zebstrika; Shiolu's electric moves had increased his speed by a lot. "Pursuit," Kyle called, "and when you reach him, close slash."

The zangoose chased Iro's zebstrika in circles around the chamber, not stopping even when the electric zebra hit him with thunder. Strike was breathing hard, but he finally caught up and executed (not that way!) a dark-type close combat on him.

"Sparkfire pursuit!" Iro yelled.

The already tired Strike was hit with an electric, fire, and dark version of tackle, all at once. He fell to the ground.

"Strike, return," Kyle said. "Eqqus, hydro pump! Apade, close combat!" He shouted, tossing out his last pokeball.

"Zen headbutt with aqua jet," Fyr countered swiftly.

"Thunderbolt!"

Kyle's seadra hadn't moved an inch before getting hit with the bolt of lightning. He still managed to launch his hydro pump right back at the zebstrika. Apade's attempt to close combat the ludicolo succeeded in knocking the dual-type out, but the double attack took its toll on him. The gallade wasn't knocked out, but he wasn't in the best shape either.

"Rampardos, zen... head smash!" Fyr shouted, improvising a new move.

Ashley grinned. "You're getting better at that. You just launched random moves left and right when you battled me last."

"Thrash, Zebstrika!"

Apade barely avoided the rampardos's head-on attack. Eqqus barely had time to douse the zebstrika in salt water before getting knocked around like a volleyball. He almost cracked the concrete floor when he hit it.

"Eqqus, return."

Ashley frowned. What was taking Sagitta and Aquila so long?

"Apade, double team, then use acupressure," Kyle said quickly.

Ashley though back to the pokedex's list of dark-type moves.

_Hone claws, a status move. The user sharpens its claws to boost its attack stat and accuracy._

Accuracy was exactly what she needed.

The two pokemon facing Apade looked around in confusion at all the copies using acupressure.

"Zebstrika, discharge!" Iro shouted.

When the electricity hit them, all but one of the gallade images faded away. The real Apade brushed off the shock and blasted a stored power straight at Rampardos's head. The surprised rock-type toppled over.

"Can't you do any better than that?" Iro scoffed.

"Show off," Fyr muttered.

"How is that showing off?"

"I swear, I'm gonna knock your zebstrika out next."

"Zebstrika would thrash your pokemon first."

"You guys fight like siblings," Kyle commented.

"Oh my gosh! He's psychic! Oh wait."

"It's worse," Iro said with a groan. "Twins."

"Well, you guys would have my sympathy if your organization hadn't kidnapped my friends. Apade, stored magic."

"Return. Hypno, put it to sleep!" Fyr called out, withdrawing her fainted rampardos.

Apade's stored power slash magical leaf hit Iro's zebstrika head on, finally knocking it out cold. However, the gallade's eyes caught Hypno's pendulum mid swing. His eyes went back... and forth... and back... Apade's eyelids drooped and he tumbled to the floor.

"Oh man... Wake up," Kyle said frantically. "Wake up!"

"Dream eater," Fyr said triumphantly.

The psychic type's eyes glowed reddish-gold...

And then nothing happened.

Hypno blinked. Ashley was standing directly between him and Apade, blocking the attack. She darted at him and punched him suddenly, making him fall back in surprise.

"How did you do that?" Kyle said in astonishment. "I didn't think you could see where he is."

"I can't." She held up her fingers, which were covered with a dark energy. The ends of the energy covers were sharpened to a point. "Hone claws. I'm almost automatically accurate."

"Hypno, send her to sleep too," Fyr ordered. Her pokemon's pendulum swung between Ashley's eyes. Ashley just grinned.

"I can't see, remember?" She punched the Hypnosis pokemon right on his enormous nose.

"Hypno, return," Fyr sighed. She gave Iro a nasty look. "I assume you're not going to help this round?"

"Nope." Iro shook his head cheerfully.

"Whatever. Drapion, cross poison."

Apade woke up and leapt to his feet. "Stored power him!" Kyle shouted. The gallade's stored power and Ashley's dark pulse collided with the gigantic scorpion. The drapion was close to finished, but he launched a wave of poison anyways. Ashley shuddered when she sensed it; the last time she'd encountered poison was still fresh on her mind. She avoided it and night slashed the Ogre Scorp Pokemon.

"Pin missile, and scatter them!" Fyr yelled.

"Apade, night slash," Kyle countered.

The dark type move barely seemed to make a dent in the drapion's health – he was still able to fire several glowing missiles from his claws. Ashley dodged a few, but Fyr saying "scatter" had apparently meant the pin missiles were coming in from all directions. They hit at once.

**BOOM!**

"Shoot," Kyle said, flinching. Ashley was flat on her back after the hit. He couldn't tell if she was conscious because her eyes were closed anyways. Then a ripple of darkness spread away from her, giving him his answer.

"Apade, close combat!" he said with finality.

The gallade hit the much larger pokemon multiple times before letting up. "DRAAAAAAAA~!" Fyr's drapion roared, falling on his side.

Ashley pushed herself upright. "Is that all?" she said tiredly.

Iro grinned nastily. "Nope. Aj probably remembers a pair of magikarp." He threw out two pokeballs.

"Oh, no," Kyle groaned, seeing the huge pokemon that towered above them.

Neither gyarados hesitated before using hyper beam on Apade.

**BOOM!**

"Return..." Kyle faltered. _All right, Aquila, what did you do?_

_Teleported them out_, was the prompt answer.

_And abandoned us...?_

_There's some kind of psychic barrier that was put up after we got out with Mike and Aj. You can easily walk right through... if you're not a psychic type._

_Got it_, Kyle responded. "Ashley! Grab Shiolu!"

"On it!" The gyaradoses (what a weird plural :P) were still recovering from the use of hyper beam, so it was easy for her to run over and pick up the ninety-pound Gleam Eyes pokemon. "%#, he's heavy..."

Kyle sprinted over to get there before the two Atrocious Pokemon recharged.

*utterly cliche moment*

He stepped on one of the shards of glass from the old pillar, stumbled, and fell flat on his face.

"Hyper beam!"

"I'm right here," Ashley said hastily. She'd reverted back to her normal form (Forme, if she's a deoxys). Knowing from experience with Sagitta that you have to be in direct contact when teleporting, she put the hand not carrying the unconscious luxray on Kyle's shoulder.

When they disappeared, Ashley swore she could still hear the double hyper beam getting fired off.

* * *

><p>"Easy enough. Just go normal and walk right through," Ashley reasoned.<p>

"I already did that. Come on."

"Oh. Right." Ashley walked in the direction of his voice. Her feet crunched through snow; they'd arrived aboveground in Snowpoint. It was just outside the original entrance.

"You're through now. You can stop walking," Kyle told her.

"Hey– Oh, you guys got Shiolu!" The weight disappeared from Ashley's arms.

"Ashley! OH MY GOSH I FREAKED OUT SO BAD WHEN WE COULDN'T GET THROUGH – "

"Sagitta, it's all right," Ashley reassured the overwhelmed latias. "We're all fine now. Let's go home."

She heard a ring, like one from an Xtranceiver. "That's mine," she heard Aj's voice say.

"Aj Ferra?"

"Yep, that's me."

"You have fifteen challengers waiting for you."

Ashley could practically hear Aj freeze. "FFFFUUUUUUUUUU–"

* * *

><p><strong>Haha, it was so easy to write most of the last half. Characters talking back to me is the most natural thing to do.<strong>

**You might have noticed I capitalized a few move names in this chapter, but not all. I just wanted to distinguish that some things were moves, like Protect. Otherwise, it could technically have been any protection. There were some others, but I'm finishing this at ten at night, so moving on...**

**For anyone who remembered that Fyr had a caterpie, it's in the PC. For anyone who didn't, no worries, it was ages ago. But yes, it's in the PC. **

**Hemolymph! Private joke. It was a question: What is the scientific term for a spider's blood? or something like that. Kyle and I missed that BOTH times we were asked it. Instead, we called it bug juice. Hemo = iron and lymph = a bodily fluid. Forgive me if I'm wrong; it's been a year since then.**

**OHMYGOSH my band is going to compete next weekend... it's one of those epic competitions in which it's so dang far away, you have to spend the night... Or three. I'm looking forward to it, even though the clarinets keep on failing (glares at clarinets) but we'll do fine anyways ^_^**

**So I was trying to get this out by my birthday... Nope, failed that. But it came out in just over a month, so I'm satisfied... ish. Got a little tedious, but then Aj decided to back talk me up there and it got easy after that. Anyways, now that the chapter's out, read, review maybe, and enjoy.**


	17. When to Believe a Sleep Talker

**Hi guys! Today's a very special day!**

**Kyle: It's not my bir~**

**Aj: *shhhh***

**No, it's actually not his birthday. He won't let me say when his birthday is, even up to the month. So instead, I'll say Kyle's birthday was some time in the past year. Deal? Okay. Happy very late birthday, Kyle, even though I said that to you already.**

**So anyways, the special day is APRIL 26!**

***crickets chirping***

**O_o**

**All right. Today is the one year anniversary of Eyes of a Dragon! One year ago on this day, this story was officially born! Well, it was already being written before the 26th, but you know what I mean. Since then, chapters have gotten longer and more detailed, taken longer to write each time, claimed a more concrete storyline, and (hopefully) gotten better. I'm really proud of this story. Happy birthday, EOAD!**

**Here's chapter seventeen.**

* * *

><p>There was an envelope on the table when Ashley came downstairs. She *scanned the outside and went to find the people it was addressed to.<p>

*read as: got Infade to read the words for her.

"To Ashley, Aj, Kyle, Mike, CO Ashley, from Kevin," the infernape vocalized.

"Really?" Ashley said suspiciously.

"Well, no, it lists the address and your last names and stuff, but that's the short version," Infade admitted.

Since returning from Snowpoint, they'd mostly resumed life. Aj was doing well as Arcade Star, and had easily beaten the fifteen challengers. Kyle and Mike were taking a break, since it was the time of year when a lot of trainers were only just beginning their journeys. They were staying in the Battle Frontier. Ash was in Unova (where no time had passed due to the time warp) and Dawn was trying to create a new series of combination moves based on Kyle and Mike's battle with Fyr and Iro. Syzygy hadn't disturbed them since, although they were still on edge. So life mostly went on as usual.

Yep. Mostly.

I don't know what you think, but it's extremely hard to be a trainer, much less a frontier brain, without vision or some kind of psychic ability. Out of the seven battles since returning to the Battle Castle, Ashley had only won four times. By battle frontier standards, that's a bit low.

"I'll go find them," Infade said, starting off.

"It's all right, we're already here."

Ashley turned toward the sound of Aj's voice. "Knocking at the front door is basic courtesy," she commented bluntly.

"If you're a stranger," Aj added. "Otherwise, it's just boring. Nurse Joy mentioned you got a letter that's for all of us, so why wait?"

"Impatient much?" Ashley huffed. Mike and Kyle followed Aj in.

"Who's it from?" Mike asked, taking a chair by the table.

"Why ask me? It's not like I can read anymore," Ashley snapped back, falling into a chair.

"Ignore her, she's ticked off at everything today. It's from Kevin," Infade answered.

"From HUH?" Mike snatched the envelope up in his hands. Reading the address, he frowned. "Why's he writing? He's never done that before…"

"Read it already," Kyle reminded him jokingly.

"Okay, okay…" he ripped the envelope open and pulled out several sheets of paper. "Dang, he wrote a fricking essay… Oh, a research paper."

"READ IT," Aj repeated impatiently.

"OKAY OKAY!" Mike yelped. "Dear Mike, Kyle, Aj, and Ashley…" He read aloud the entire letter, word for word. (the whole thing is in chapter 14, if you want to see it again)

"Cool," Ashley said after he was done reading it. "That would explain the aerodactyl that likes attacking us."

"Oh yeah, that guy," Aj remembered. "Haven't seen him in a while. Wait, it says 'usually attack in mobs'…"

Mike noticed how quiet Kyle was being. "Something wrong?" he asked mildly.

Kyle was staring at one part of the letter. "No," he said lightly, not looking up.

"So we already knew about the DNA," Aj listed, "and the feet. But the funny pokemon attacking is new. And the ways of creating a Lynch… Hey, that must be how Iro and Fyr became Lynches. The Syzygy notebook mentioned creating them –"

"Notebook?" Ashley interrupted.

"Yeah. Roark found it and let me keep it. I read it when I'm bored. It's really dull; there's a bunch of objectives and plans in it…" Aj's eyes grew wide. "Oh my gosh. There's a bunch of plans in it. A bunch. Of freaking. Plans."

"And you kept it to yourself until now?" Mike exclaimed in disbelief.

"Well, yeah, it was really boring…"

"Where is it?" Mike interrupted.

"In my room."

"Let's go see it, then." Mike pushed his chair out and stood up. He followed Aj out. Infade took Ashley by the wrist and pulled her along.

Ashley noticed that someone wasn't coming – there was a lack of noise from his feet. She resisted against Infade's insistence and turned back. "Kyle, are you coming?" she asked.

Kyle was still staring at that same passage in the letter. He snapped out of his thoughts and looked up. "Yeah. I'll be there soon," he replied. Ashley nodded and continued toward the Battle Arcade. Meanwhile, Kyle took one last look at the words:

_There's this thing called power swapping, where a Lynch can take some of their power and exchange it for greater power in another area…_

"What if they can exchange more than power?" he mused. "What if they can exchange power in one area for…?"

Kyle started for the Battle Arcade. As he walked, he dialed Kevin Yale on his Xtranceiver. It didn't take long for the aura guardian to pick up. "What's going on, Kyle?"

"How soon can you make it to the Battle Frontier?"

* * *

><p>Ash got the call right after defeating the fourth Unova gym. Just after accepting the Bolt Badge from Elesa, he heard an incoming call on his Xtranceiver. He froze – even <em>he<em> knew it would be rude to answer it right then. Ash discreetly pressed a button, and the device fell silent.

It rang again when he, Iris, and Cilan were in a restaurant, ordering a celebratory dinner. He wondered vaguely, _Is it okay to answer a call in a restaurant?_ He decided against it and turned his Xtranceiver off.

It wasn't until ten at night that he remembered to turn it back on. He took a look at who the caller had been earlier. Ash frowned in confusion. Why was _she_ calling?

He hit redial and waited for her to pick up. Even though it was late at night, Maylene still picked up almost immediately. "Finally," she said before he could say a word. "Ash, we need you to come over here."

"Wait, why?"

"It turns out Aj had a notebook from Syzygy all this time. Their plans were in it, so now we know what we're up against. We're getting a team ready to fight." Maylene glanced behind her, like someone was talking to her. She turned back to the screen to say, "Come as soon as you can," and hung up.

* * *

><p>Not long after Ash received the call in Unova, the back door to the Battle Arcade slid open. While it was 10 at night in Unova, the time change between it and Sinnoh was several hours, making it just past 3 in the morning. So there weren't any lights on to illuminate the shadowy figure who stepped out into the night.<p>

The person who had come out silently slid the glass door shut. Outside, a chilly night breeze was flowing through the trees. The figure stood silently for a moment, then threw something out. A sudden flash of red briefly gave light to the darkness, exposing the small clearing and revealing the identity of the stranger. The gallade who had come out of the pokeball turned to look at his trainer.

"Just in case," Kyle said quietly.

Apade nodded, but not without a look of concern. Since the incident in Snowpoint, the co-champion had been acting strangely. The elite four had noticed it as well.

"It looks like shock," Lucian had told the gallade. "He'll get over it."

However, Apade had watched his trainer continue his odd behavior. He was quieter than normal, and often moody. He wasn't making jokes anymore, had all but stopped smiling, and there was a perpetual crease between his eyebrows. Sure, he still studied subjects way beyond comprehension and worked with computers more easily than a lot of professionals, but besides that, there was definitely something wrong. Apade knew his trainer – no, his friend – well enough to understand that.

"Waiting for something?" the gallade murmured softly.

"Yeah. Shouldn't be much longer." Apade noticed a shift in the darkness, as though Kyle had turned his head. "He promised he'd be here by 2 in the morning."

Apade frowned. "The clock inside said it was almost three."

The shadows shifted again, and this time Apade could see pieces of light, reflected off Kyle's eyes. "Right, and this is Kevin we're talking about." Surprisingly, there was humor in his voice.

"Hm," Apade said, smiling. "And here I was, thinking someday he'd be able to beat a torterra in a race."

"Not a running race, just a race to be on time," Kyle corrected.

"Right, and if they were betting on who'd run here first–"

The breeze picked up suddenly, rocking the tree branches back and forth. Apade stopped talking and looked up into the trees. The windy night was one that makes you want to fly away with it…

When the gust died down, Apade noticed a shimmer of light through the trees, at a spot where neither the Battle Arcade nor the overhanging branches cast shadows down. The two shards of reflected moonlight seemed to be directed straight at him and Kyle, like a pair of eyes. It moved closer, and soon emerged from the forest.

As Kevin sauntered into the building's shadow, the light bouncing off his glasses disappeared. "Hey," he greeted them. The grin on his face, unseen through the lack of light, was still heard in his voice. "What's up with the mysterious summoning?"

Kyle got right to the point. "You sent a letter talking about Lynches and their powers. Part of it mentioned something called power swapping?"

"Oh, that. I found out a bit more about that after sending the letter. Is there something you want to swap? Higher speed would do you good," Kevin teased.

"Actually, I was wondering if something else would work. Besides power in the areas of defense, special attack, that sort of thing – "

"No, you can't get rock type powers."

"Is– "

"Or fire."

" –it possible to, say, exchange power to regenerate part of your body?"

* * *

><p>Almost everyone was already there when Ash arrived in Celestic Town. He saw the gym leaders and elite four already seated around the round conference table, as well as the former champion, Cynthia. There were seven vacant seats to Bertha's right, and one opposite them. Dawn gestured to him, indicating the single empty chair by her. Ash strode over to take the spot. Gardenia, who was sitting next to him, smiled.<p>

"Hey Ash! Long time no see. Still have that turtwig?" she said as a greeting.

Ash's mouth broke into a grin. She hadn't changed… "Yeah, but now he's a torterra," Ash confirmed.

"Wow! That takes dedication!" she exclaimed, eyes shining.

"So who are we waiting for?" he asked her.

"Um…" Gardenia looked around. "Looks like those four Links or something like that. And the rest of the Battle Frontier."

"Lynches."

"Right."

"The Frontier Brains are involved?" Dawn said suddenly.

"That's right."

"I thought they were completely separate from the Pokemon League, which usually solves these sort of problems."

Gardenia nodded. "That's right. But in this case, the problem seems to have centered itself around both the Pokemon League's champions and two Frontier Brains. So we're working together, this time."

At that moment, three people walked through the open door. The first was a tall man with scruffy, graying blond hair and a long green coat lines with yellow buttons. He wore thick black gloves on his hands and matching boots on his feet. Beneath the green overcoat was a white turtleneck and brown dress pants. His clothes were obviously meant to keep the wind and rain away, although his weathered, tan face said otherwise. He appeared to be a content man, judging by the relaxed grin he wore.

The second was a middle-aged woman with reddish-brown, eager eyes. A pair of sunglasses held her purple hair back. She wore a maroon suit jacket and shorts over a white shirt and purple stockings. Like the first man, she'd covered her hands and feet with black gloves and boots. While the wrinkles starting to form on her face suggested she was growing old, her mischievous eyes threw out any idea of that sort.

The last person was a young man; Ash guessed he was probably in his twenties, in contrast with his older colleagues. He looked like a futuristic businessman, with a white shirt, black vest, green trousers, and blue belt and tie. His shoes were a professional shiny black, with eccentrically enormous blue tongues. On his hip sat a black holster for a large electronic gadget. He had black hair that spiked up and to the right, and electric blue eyes with a bored, uncaring sleepiness to match Volkner's. Then again, Volkner seemed wide awake for once, talking to Wake and Maylene.

"Hello Argenta," Cynthia greeted them cordially. "Palmer… Thorton."

"It's a pleasure seeing you again," Argenta laughed. "And to be here."

"And to be able to do something this time," the man called Thorton snorted. "Quite honestly, there's no reason you couldn't have asked us for assistance when you were dealing with Galactic."

Cynthia smiled coldly, but also tiredly. It was evident that she'd dealt with Thorton before. "With Galactic, it was only the Pokemon League responsible for wiping them out, but now–"

"Ah, well, that's old news now," Palmer announced loudly. He slapped Thorton's shoulder in a friendly way. "We're here now, and we'll do what it takes." Palmer strode over to take the seat by Bertha. Rubbing his shoulder resentfully, Thorton followed him.

"Where's the other two?" Cynthia asked.

"They'll be here soon," Argenta replied, taking the spot next to Thorton. "There was something sudden they needed to attend to. It shouldn't take long, though."

As if on cue, loud voices came through the doorway.

"…and then he made Chira use discharge again and again, even though _she_ knew better than to shock an electivire with motor drive–"

"I did _not_."

"Yes you did. And the whole time you were like, 'Why the freaking h*ll isn't it getting damaged?' " Maylene noticed that Volkner was trying to suppress a laugh.

"Come on, I'm wouldn't swear out loud in front of a gym leader…"

"Why not? We do it all the time, and they swear in front of us, too."

Mike walked in first. "Hey Volkner!" he said, waving enthusiastically. Volkner laughed, and Thorton gave the electric gym leader an alarmed look.

"How's your pachirisu?" Volkner asked Kevin, who had just walked through the doorway.

"Aah, she's doing great," Kevin answered. The other four teenagers who had come in cracked up.

"Kevin's gym battle," Volkner said briefly to a puzzled-looking Maylene. Her expression cleared.

"We're gonna need another chair," Flint said, getting up to find one.

"Who's the extra?" Thorton asked bluntly. His answer was a whack on the head from Palmer.

"Don't be so rude. That's their friend who's visiting and knows quite a bit about Lynches," he told the disgruntled Factory Head.

Flint found a chair, and they took their seats.

"All right," Cynthia said, rising from her chair. "Now that we're all here, I'll explain the issue in full. There's a rising organization in Sinnoh that calls itself Syzygy. It's goals appear to be along the usual lines of overthrowing the current government and coming to power."

"Losers," Thorton muttered.

Cynthia pretended not to hear him. "The leaders of this group are what's known as 'Lynches', or humans with genes that give them elemental powers. There are six at the moment, but evidently they can make more almost on-demand. It seems that originally, they were aiming to collect as much energy as possible to create a weapon, but…" She trailed off. Suddenly, she made a face and continued: "They heard me sleep talking and changed tactics."

"I could take it from there, just for the prophetic piece," Lucian offered. Cynthia nodded and sat down.

Lucian stood. "Several months ago, the elite four, co-champions, and former champion – no offense meant by that," he added respectfully, "went to a conference. Miss Cynthia attending was simply a matter of symbolism, but she played no role and assumed no interest in the matter at hand. The rest of us had to pay attention, so no one noticed her falling asleep." Lucian's tone was serious, but his eyes hinted that it wasn't much of a serious story to tell. "The meeting was almost over when Miss Cynthia decided to imitate a pokemon and use sleep talk."

"When that happens, it's a sure sign you're going nuts," Thorton commented lightly, leaning his chair back.

"Don't put it like that," she told Lucian, meanwhile glaring at Thorton.

"All right, she started saying something in her sleep. It wouldn't have been so serious if the Pokemon Fan Club head – don't ask why he was there; I don't know myself – hadn't just said, 'Nothing interesting has happened around here since the Galactic incident. I'm almost starting to wish for another problem in Sinnoh.' Right after that, Miss Cynthia seemingly recited a poem, or, as it's now known, a prophecy."

"Thanks Lucian," Cynthia acknowledged him. "We'll get to that," she said, interrupting Thorton before he could even get a word out. "So what the prophecy basically said was, 'This will be the outcome of the next huge fight.' Somehow Syzygy got wind of what I said and took it to heart. Coincidentally – or maybe not so coincidentally – I'd mentioned a number of elemental types that happen to match that of four non-Syzygy Lynches. Since the context was that the winning side would have certain aspects of these elements, Syzygy set out to collect these things." She slid her hand into her pocket and drew out a note card. "I'm not conceited enough to memorize my own words, so here it is," she joked.

" 'In the eternal battle of good and naught, an epic battle will be fought. The victors will have and know these well, while the losers will evermore stand in he–' Oh, grow up, Aaron. 'A heart of steel that can resist the conquering feel; the mind of a fighter to vanquish all after; two wings of lightning which confuse the fighting; eyes of a dragon to spot the heart's worst abrasion; and the dark's brightest light that ends the fight.' "

"That makes no–"

"Thorton, we _know_ it makes no sense. If we understood it completely, we wouldn't be here," Roark snapped.

"I hate to be a party pooper like Thorton," Roark's father said, frowning, "but the thing is, we're choosing to believe something Cynthia said in her sleep. My wife's family is notorious for sleep talking, and I woke up at one thirty one morning to hear her talking about Jamba Juice and toucans. Are we really going to believe this so-called prophecy?"

"Byron, it's not a matter of believing it's real anymore," Bertha said solemnly. "Syzygy believes it, and they're going to end up _making_ it real."

The truth of her statement sunk in.

"Yeah, and they've already gotten the eyes of a dragon, supposedly," Ashley agreed. "Whether or not those five things will help them, I think they're still powerful enough to have a chance at overthrowing the Pokemon League."

"Okay, well, there's one solution standing out to me," Maylene said.

"And that would be…?" Gardenia prompted.

"Go on the offense. They're not going to get any weaker while we wait for them to attack. That was our problem with Galactic; we didn't take them seriously until it was almost too late." Maylene glanced at Volkner, who continued for her.

"We were talking about this earlier," he explained. "So far, we know that Syzygy has headquarters in Snowpoint, and has used an abandoned power plant before, located somewhere between Pastoria and Solaceon. They have a weapon that absorbs energy – for example, auraspheres or electricity – and collects it, then blasts it back at you. Their administrators are grass, ground, fire, poison, ghost, and steel-bug. We're not sure if any of them have other types than those. There are grunts, as most successful conspiracies have had in the past. They've employed scientists and doctors. And of course, Hunter J was hired as well."

"Why are you telling us this?" Thorton asked.

"I'm just putting this out on the table," Volkner replied. "We may as well know what we're up against."

"We could – gah, don't stare at me – we could split up and work with what we've got," Aj suggested. "The best idea would probably be to get at the administrators, but weakening them first would probably be the right thing to do."

"Why not?" Wake's agreement seemed to voice the consent of most of the group.

"Are we gonna vote?" Flint asked.

"All in favor…?" Cynthia counted, not that she had to. It was everyone versus Thorton and Fantina. "Well, it's passed, but I'm surprised you don't think this will work, Fantina. Thorton, I was expecting you to disagree anyways."

In her notorious French accent, Fantina said, "It's not zat it won't work; it's just zat united we stand, divided we fall, non? Can we not work as a group?"

"I get the feeling we'll work in pairs or more," Ash mentioned. "There's not enough stuff to cover for everyone to be working separately."

Fantina considered this. "I don't see why not." She raised her hand.

"Excellent. Groups it is," Cynthia concluded.

"Right," Mike spoke up for the first time that afternoon. He clicked a pen tip back into the body of the pen. "I have a suggested group organization," he explained.

"Argenta, Volkner, Maylene, Flint, and Thorton. You guys can head over to the power plant. Argenta can cover for the others, who will sneak in to look for anything of interest. Flint and Thorton are sort of on guard duty for Volkner and Maylene, so fend off anyone who comes in. I'm giving the jobs to you guys because Volkner, Maylene, and Flint are such good friends, and Argenta, I figure you can manage Thorton," Mike concluded mischievously. Thorton snorted in response.

"The headquarters at Snowpoint is for Wake, Lucian, Candice, and Roark. Wake has mapmaking experience, so you would get to make maps of the tunnels down there. Lucian, it would be great if you could look around for more information. You can absorb a lot of stuff at once, so…" Mike looked back down at his notes. "Candice and Roark, can you guys watch what they do in terms of moving in and out? You guys would have to watch out for unexpected assault on your own."

"Where'd the vocabulary come from?" Kevin muttered.

"I'm just smart," Mike brushed it off, making Kevin laugh. "Gardenia, Aaron, Cynthia, Palmer, Byron, and Fantina, Aj found a location written in Syzygy's notebook. It's twenty miles southeast of Eterna. Gardenia would be a huge help charting out what's around there, plus she's familiar with the area, so she's an obvious choice. Besides that, I sort of have a bunch of miscellaneous talents thrown in, since we don't know what's there besides that something _is_ there. So Byron's for any excavating and fossil work, Fantina can get information quickly, Palmer's got a lot of technical experience, Aaron can handle the bugs that are common in Eterna forest, and Cynthia's got legend knowledge and strength. All that should cover anything you might encounter."

"Um, Kevin, Ash, Kyle, and Bertha, you guys are all either psychic, aura guardians, or just really observant and logical – Kevin, I was talking about Bertha, you idiot – so I was thinking you guys could try to track down Hunter J. And then Aj, Ashley, me, Dawn, and everyone else already in the J-tracking category can head out to try and defeat or disable her. She's got really good minions, though." He nodded at Cynthia, to show he was finished.

"Any objections~?"

Nope.

"All right then. If that's all, let's move out," Cynthia concluded.

As they stood to leave, Mike approached Candice suddenly. "All right!" he yelled randomly, gesturing for her to high five him. She did, although she had a somewhat confused expression on his face. Mike did the same with Volkner, Bertha, and Wake.

"Hey Thorton!" he called, raising his hand again to high five the Factory Head. Thorton raised his hand.

In one swift motion, Mike shifted his hand behind his head. "Psych! You thought you had friends!"

A roar of laughter erupted from everyone except the now-ticked off Frontier Brain.

* * *

><p>Ashley was climbing onto Sagitta's back to fly back to the Battle Frontier. There wasn't a whole lot for her to do until J was found, and who knew how long that would take? Ash and Kevin had both just arrived in Sinnoh, so they were planning on resting up a bit before hunting J down. She was back to being bored, and faced the prospect of doing nothing but losing to challengers repeatedly again…<p>

"Ashley!"

Ashley turned her head in the direction of Kevin's voice. "What's up?"

"How's it going?"

"Very dark," Ashley commented mildly.

"Oh, come on," Kevin said irritably. Lowering his voice, he said, "You know they actually care about that more than you think. Talking about your eyes isn't an easy topic."

"My eyes? You mean lack of?" Sensing his annoyance, she quickly backtracked. "So what are you talking to me for?"

"Well, Kyle called me over here, and when I arrived, he asked me if something could be done to get your eyes back. I would have said no, but he gave me a specific scenario," Kevin explained. "It was similar to power swapping, but you wouldn't be swapping power on both ends."

"And you would be swapping…?" Ashley prompted impatiently. Sagitta watched the trainers' exchange.

"Well, one side would be power. You'd be taking some of your personal power and trading it for the other side, which would be eyes."

Ashley absorbed this in shock. "So just by lowering my defense or something, I could see again? How is normal power swapping done?"

"I looked into that. You sort of think of a whole ton of situations where the power you want to reduce has failed you, and then ones where the power you want to regain has done you good. The book I found it in said something about a mediator between the bodies of power, blah blah blah, and that would be me, since it has to be an aura guardian."

Things were looking up again. Then Ashley remembered that often times, good things are too good to be true. "Wait," she realized, "this is one-sided power swapping, with something physical on the other side. Will it actually work?"

Had she been able to see it, the grin on Kevin's face would definitely have reassured her.

* * *

><p>...at least until he said, "How would I know? It's never been done before!"<p>

Sagitta fell over in exasperation.

* * *

><p>The young lady was right in front of him. Yet he still hesitated to catch her attention. Thorton was wondering if he should ask the question that had been bugging him, after all.<p>

Too late. Candice turned around and caught his eye. "Hi there! What's up?" she asked brightly.

Caught off guard, Thorton hurriedly tried to stutter a response. "Er… ah, I was wondering something."

The gym leader nodded. "What's that?"

Thorton took a steady breath and regained his confidence. "In all the years I've known Volkner, or even just heard of him, I always knew he was particularly quiet and moody. But today he was laughing! You know him fairly well; what's caused this sudden change?"

Candice gave a knowing smirk. "It's not sudden. Volkner's been increasingly less cold for the past two months or so. I know why it's happened, and I couldn't understand it until a few weeks ago, when the same thing happened to me."

"So what happened?" Thorton demanded.

Candice's pale brown eyes met his. He was taken slightly aback by what he saw in them: complete happiness with a little determination mixed in.

"We both fell in love."

* * *

><p>Aj noticed her friend was in a good mood when she arrived back at the Battle Frontier. "What's so amazing?" she asked Ashley.<p>

"I could get eyes again," Ashley replied vaguely, recalling Sagitta to her pokeball.

"That's it?"

Ashley frowned. "What's it?"

"That's all you're happy about?"

"Yeah…" Ashley thought of something. "If you're suggesting what I think you are, you're DEAD."

Aj's mouth slowly stretched into a grin. "Maybe…"

"Well? Are you dead or not?"

Aj cracked up. "YOU AND KYLE WERE HOLDING HANDS~!" she hollered at the top of her lungs.

"DIE." Ashley shifted forms, collected an ice punch and swung her fist back. Before Aj could react, her hand flew forward.

…and collided with someone who definitely wasn't Aj.

"OW! Frick, I wouldn't have done that if I'd known you hit so hard!"

"Mike! Why did you do that?" Aj demanded. Ashley withdrew her fist from Mike's shoulder.

"It's just a statement of fact," Mike explained mildly. "You and Kyle _were_ holding hands in Snowpoint a few weeks ago."

Ashley was nearly speechless. "I… he… no, what… It was a life or death freaking situation!" she spluttered.

"Aj never said it wasn't," Mike pointed out with a shrug. "Ouch…" he flinched at the bruise forming on his shoulder.

"Okay," Ashley said, calming down. "First of all, you know perfectly well what she meant."

"I'm not stu–"

"Second," Ashley went on, "Why are you defending Aj? And I can tell you're not exactly transformed for higher defense, either."

She sensed Mike shifting awkwardly. "Um, it was a completely out of nowhere attack for no reason–"

"No reason?"

"No worthwhile reason. I mean, not to say you're not worthwhile, just that it was out of nowhere and… what was I saying?" he asked Aj, who gave him a weird look.

"Are you okay?" the water-steel Lynch asked him.

"Yeah, sure. Except I just got ice punched," he said pointedly to Ashley. "See you later." He ran off.

Both Frontier Brains were at a loss for words.

* * *

><p><strong>Just the MENTIONING of envelopes reminded me of something I did this week X3 Somebody got something special… ahem. What's really amusing is watching him try to figure out who gave it to him; the guy right by him is like, "Is there any girl who ever says 'hi' to you really awkwardly?" Meanwhile I'm sitting about five feet away from them both, trying not to start laughing (I say hi completely to him completely unawkwardly, FYI).<strong>

**Ah, motor drive. There's a lot you can do with it in double battles. A LOT. I sort of capitalized on Ash's repeated mistakes against electivires in the anime and gave them to Kevin. I don't know if Kevin plays pokemon in real life.**

**Jamba Juice and toucans = what my friend dreamed about one night when she was sleep talking. We were in the same room in the hotel, and she woke me up at one thirty getting annoyed at something in her dream. Ai yah.**

**Aj wanted an awkward moment; I guess she got it, although I would have preferred giving it to her character…**

**So that's chapter 17! Hope you all liked it, and if you didn't?**

**BETTER LUCK NEXT CHAPTER**


	18. Evading Truths

**Okay, despite the two month delay, I'm not dead :D Hopefully this super long chapter makes up for it. Read and enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"…and the reason why I have to get new eyes in the middle of a huge empty room is <em>why<em>, exactly?"

"The author who wrote the book that talked about power swapping liked to reference a whole bunch of situations where something went out of control, and then an explosion happened," Kevin explained. "Just in case, we're doing it here."

Ashley and Kevin were alone in Bertha's elite four official battlefield. It was just like any other, besides that it was the closest and most easily obtained facility they could use.

"Couldn't we have done it outside? Like, in a desert, an ocean, something wide open?" Ashley pointed out.

"Too distracting. Either heat or ocean waves, in those cases, and any innocent pokemon could come upon us."

"Ah."

"So, do you know what you'll be lowering? Speed, attack…"

"Special defense."

"Okay." Kevin scanned the sightless face of the girl beside him. "Ready to start?"

"Yeah."

* * *

><p><em>Group One: the power plant<em>

"Thorton, stop being a derp. You're not _that_ skinny, all right? Now get out of there before I send my infernape after you."

Thorton gave Flint a look that was both cold and incredulous… which canceled out and made him look like an idiot. "What's a derp?"

"You," Flint replied easily. "Step aside."

Grumbling, Thorton pulled himself out of the tall, thin gap in the metal wall. They'd found the opening right as they'd landed by the power plant, and it would have been the ideal way in… except it wasn't likely anyone would fit through. And yes, it was exactly the place Mike and Aj had found when they'd gone there.

"Infernape, flamethrower," Flint said. The fire monkey in question did so, widening the gap. Flint turned back to everyone else and said, "Anyone got a water type?"

"You couldn't have thought of that _before _frying our only entrance?" Volkner said disbelievingly.

"No fear," Argenta declared, sending out a pokeball. The golduck who came out sent a water pulse flying into the space. It hissed as it struck the hot metal, and cooled the wall as it vaporized. "Thanks a bunch," Argenta quipped, drawing her golduck back to her pokeball.

The group slipped inside quietly, listening for any noises that weren't from their own feet. Having said that, Volkner could SO tell Flint wanted to make a noise from somewhere a little higher than his feet. He kept shooting the gym leader mischievous looks. Fortunately, a falsely sweet smile from Maylene seemed to quash any evil ideas Flint was getting.

Argenta stopped walking around ten feet into the twisted metal structure. "I'll stand watch here," she told the others. "Good luck."

Thorton, of course, tried to complain, (probably something along the lines of, "You're making us do everything?") but Maylene put her two cents in first. "Dude, she's our cover, remember?" So Thorton shut up.

The ruined steel walkways and railings made it nearly impossible for fully-grown adults to navigate through it (everyone who went through the first time was a teenager, remember?). Even Maylene, the smallest, had to get on her hands and knees at some points, crawling under fallen iron whatever-they-used-to-bes. Finally, a partially collapsed corridor led to a wide open space.

"Whew," panted Maylene. "Geez, it's dark… Lucario," she called, tossing out a pokeball. The brief flash of red light momentarily showed a cluster of what could have been anything from coatracks to Christmas trees – but only for a moment. So it was hard to say exactly what they were. "Lucario, can you hold an aurasphere for a bit?"

The room lit up suddenly, this time with a bluish glow that felt cold and slightly eerie. Lucario held the ball of light between his palms, effectively illuminating the rest of the room, plus the Christmas tree/coatracks, which turned out to be –

"Oh," Volkner said softly. "These are energy receivers."

Flint turned to him. "Wait, you're telling me you actually know what the heck this thing is? It looks like some outer space contraption!"

Flint had a point; the receivers had roughly the height of a hockey stick, and the conical shape of a super tall and thin party hat. A clear glass orb sat on the tip of the cone, and wires snaked down the outside towards the floor.

"They're fairly new technology," Volkner explained. "Energy flows get attracted to these," he said, pointing out the glass sphere, "and flow down to the bottom." He tipped a receiver over on its side, revealing a keypad on the bottom. "They're really easy to control."

"Do you think this is all that's here?" Maylene asked.

Volkner straightened the metal cone and stood up. "It's possible there's something else. Let's look around."

A tap on his shoulder made Volkner turn around. It was Thorton. Volkner almost chose to ignore the Factory Head, but there was no look of scornful sarcasm on his face. Instead, Thorton pointed toward a small, barely visible gap in the wall, roughly 20 feet above ground level. "What do you think?" he muttered.

Volkner shrugged. "It's worth a shot, if we can get up there."

Thorton threw out a pokeball in response, and Volkner found himself standing in front of what appeared to be a giant, floating bell. "Bronzong, we need to get up there," Thorton said, indicating the hole in the wall.

Maylene and Volkner were immediately surrounded by a dim pink glow. "Ai yah!" Maylene hissed, startled by the fact that she had spontaneously started levitating. "A little warning, maybe?"

Thorton waved it off. "Head through. You guys are set to get information, right?" he reminded them in a hushed voice. "Well, go get it!"

The couple rose in the air, until they were level with the space in the wall. It was definitely too perfectly square to have been an accident. Maylene crawled in.

"There's barely enough room to fit," she called back.

A crash from the direction they'd just come from made them jump. Volkner looked down at Thorton and Flint, alarmed. "What was that?"

"If we knew, maybe we'd be attacking it," Thorton snapped.

"You shut up." Flint defended his friend.

"You guys keep going; we'll figure it out if it reaches us," Thorton told Volkner. A second later, a massive clatter rang out from the direction they'd entered the room from. It sounded distinctly like something large and metallic had crashed down. Argenta's shout came right after it.

"Bronzong, hurry," Thorton muttered. "Volkner, get in there."

Volkner scrambled for the narrow passageway and finally got in. Maylene had started crawling through the tunnel already.

The direction the crash had come from was now eerily quiet. Thorton and Flint were tense and completely silent, waiting for anything to happen at any given moment.

Lucario growled. In a flash, the aurasphere lighting up the room shot towards the main entrance and exploded against someone coming in. Without the aurasphere, the room was thrown into darkness.

A chuckle came from the entryway.

"Violent, eh?"

Like a struck match, a second aurasphere from Lucario made the room flicker to life. The newcomer was a man in his forties, with pale brown hair and a nineteenth-century style top hat and tuxedo. He could have been a rich man going to see an opera, except for the fact that he lacked the proper footwear to do so. In fact, his feet were absolutely bare.

"I wouldn't throw that," the man advised Lucario. "Bad things will happen."

"Crateron," Thorton said blandly.

"Who?" Flint sounded confused.

"Syzygy ground representative. I did my research."

"Well done," Crateron congratulated him. "Might I ask why you're here?"

"I dunno, might you?" Flint retorted. Thorton almost cracked a smile.

"Well, yes, actually," Crateron replied, unfazed.

"Interesting," Flint commented mildly.

"Would you answer the question, if I asked it?" Crateron asked.

"Potentially. But probably not," Flint said cheerfully. "Then again, you haven't asked it, so it doesn't really matter."

"In that case, I suppose I could assume you're here because of this." Crateron swept his hand over the many energy receivers across the floor. "Would I be correct?"

"Maybe," Flint admitted, "but maybe not."

"I see. Well, if that's the case, I don't need to worry."

"And why would that be?" Flint wondered.

"Syzygy has no need for this building. We have a much larger collection of receivers at one of our other headquarters, anyways," Crateron explained.

"Interesting. So you're saying, there's no need for us to be here," Flint guessed.

Crateron nodded. "Exactly."

"If you don't need this place anymore, why are you here, then?" Up until now, Thorton had been simply watching the exchange with an amused fascination, but he realized Crateron wasn't saying everything. "You seem to be interested in this place."

Crateron let out a hoot of laughter. "Ah, you've caught me! I was sent here to pick up the receivers to transport to Eterna. Just for more of them."

"Eterna?"

Crateron's composure slipped. For a split second, he looked alarmed and annoyed with himself. Then he sighed. "Well, yes. At any rate, I'm going to take these with me. I have a number of particularly strong ground types who can carry these with them."

"Oh, but we won't let you. Flint, what do you say?" Thorton said.

Flint grinned with the maniac glint of battle hunger in his eyes. "Not a chance," he declared, grabbing a pokeball.

Crateron smiled grimly. "I'm not here to fight. Today's tactic is… run away." With that, he threw out six pokeballs at once. "Take as many receptors as you can and run for it!" he yelled to the gastrodon, flygon, rhyperior, krookodile, golem, and garchomp that popped out.

"Weavile, fury swipes that rhyperior with metal out, and don't let up! Aggron, stone edge the flygon like your life depends on it!" Thorton called, throwing two pokemon out.

"Houndoom, sunny day! Magmortar and Rapidash, solarbeam on Gastrodon and Krookodile! Flareon, quick attack the golem until you can't anymore, and Infernape, mach flare blitz on that garchomp!" Flint yelled, scattering his pokeballs.

The room was thrown into chaos. The sunny day produced by Flint's houndoom took away the need for an aurasphere light, so Lucario flew into the fray. Super effective solarbeams crisscrossed the building, made more frequent by the presence of sunny day. Thorton's weavile was combining metal claw and fury swipes to create a super fast move that did plenty of damage. His aggron's stone edge zoomed around after the flygon, who was flying all over the place to avoid it.

Crateron's garchomp barely seemed to feel the half-fire type move barraging him – trust Flint to use an ineffective move in the attack. While picking up energy receivers in his claws, the garchomp pulled dragon energy into his abdomen. He released it upward, so a ball of golden energy hung right next to the sunny day. The draco meteor spontaneously exploded, raining meteors down on Flint's and Thorton's pokemon. Crateron's pokemon took advantage of the hit their opponents had taken by snatching up as many energy receivers as they could, meanwhile launching earthquakes left and right. Flint spotted his flareon, already knocked out.

"It's no use!" Flint yelled, calling his flareon back. "Even the supereffective moves haven't knocked these guys out."

"Get them all as close to the center as you can," Thorton shouted back. "You guys got that?"

His weavile began the metal fury swipes in a direction that pushed the rhyperior toward the center of the room. Aggron and Lucario cornered the flygon with stone edge and bone rush. Flint's infernape had given up on the flare blitz part of the combo and was just back-to-back mach punching the garchomp. All over the room, ground types were getting pushed towards the middle.

"Now!" Thorton yelled finally. "Bronzong, go!"

His bronzong, who had been standing behind Thorton throughout the fight, now zoomed toward the very center of the room. Fortunately, Flint had enough sense to draw his pokemon back, like Thorton was doing.

"Explosion!"

**BOOM!**

The room was flooded with a blinding light, brighter than the sunny day still hanging over their heads. Humans, Lynches, and pokemon alike were thrown backward into the walls of the room. Around them, small objects crashed into the walls as well, thrown by the massive force produced right in front of them.

When the light died down, the room was thrown into its original darkness. Lucario generated another aurasphere to reveal what had just happened. Torn scraps of metal and glass littered the floor of the entire room, from the very edges to the center. The dim blue light illuminated the shapes of the pieces, showing that they all had come from the energy receivers. Some had collided with the people and pokemon (and hybrids) as they'd blown up, smashing into them and probably bruising them; it wasn't light enough to see yet.

In the very center of the floor lay Thorton's bronzong, knocked out.

Thorton sat up painfully – okay, _you_ get smashed into a steel wall and say it doesn't hurt – and smiled. "Nice one," he murmured, withdrawing his bronzong. Scanning the wreckage, he saw that while none of the ground types had been knocked out, there wasn't a single receiver left untouched. On the contrary, they were all in pieces.

Flint groaned. "You all right?" he said blearily.

"Yeah. You?"

"No."

Thorton looked over and flinched. Half of a glass orb from a receiver had collided with Flint's arm, giving him a circular cut from the jagged edges.

"No big deal," Flint said, shrugging it off. "Your bronzong stopped them."

Crateron huffed and got to his feet, straightening his top hat. "Return," he called, bringing back his pokemon. Giving the Elite Four member and Factory Head a glare, he said coldly, "You might have destroyed this branch of our control, but the rest makes this –" He waved his hand over the destruction. "– look minute in comparison. Good day." Crateron simply walked out.

"Hey, wait!" Flint started to get up.

"No need. We'll get him and all the other Syzygy people later," Thorton pointed out.

Flint hesitated, then shrugged. "Whatever."

"Are you guys all right?" Maylene's voice called down from above.

"Define all right," Flint yelled back up.

"Intact."

"Mostly," Flint admitted.

"There was a computer up here that used to control all the energy receivers." Volkner this time. "Not that it was needed anymore, by the sound of it. But there was some information that could be used for the other receivers, if we ever find them."

"Did you hear the whole conversation?" Flint asked, surprised.

"Yeah, from start to finish," Maylene responded. "You guys handled it well enough, though."

"Yeah, yeah," Thorton butted in, returning to his usual self. "Let's head back. We're done here."

* * *

><p>"Think of one time your special defense let you down," Kevin said.<p>

"Um... Do you mean like –" Ashley began.

"Up to you," Kevin interrupted. "Your call."

"You don't really know how it works, do you?" Ashley gave him the best exasperated look someone can give without actually having eyes.

"Come on."

"Kay..." Thinking back, she tried to remember a time when special defense hadn't been her strong suit. The first thing that came to mind was the last fight in Snowpoint, when a pin missile had almost finished her. "Pin missile is a special attack, right?"

"Uh..." Kevin consulted his pokedex. "Nope."

"Dang it." Her mind was still reflecting on what had happened that time...

_It was her and Kyle's gallade fighting that Drapion, and then the pin missiles hit. She'd fallen and almost given up... No way, she'd thought. There's no way I'm letting up now. She released a night daze – a wave of pitch-black energy – and then heard Kyle call for Apade to use close combat..._

_Wait a minute_, she thought suddenly. _Why didn't Kyle a move before that? He doesn't hesitate in serious battles – What made him hesitate?_

"Ashley?" Kevin's voice brought her back to the present. "Special defense?"

"Ah, right." There was the "training" battle between her and Aj, where Aj had focus blasted her halfway across the field. "Got it," Ashley said.

"Okay. Now focus on that moment..." Too late. Suddenly Ashley was thinking of what else happened that day, mostly the battle after theirs. When Kyle lost the fight.

_... she walked over to where he had fallen and looked down. Taking out a cheri berry, she simultaneously watched his eyes to see if they would open. "You okay?" she hesitantly asked. Kyle's eyelids slid open, and the relief that streamed through her–_

Ashley jumped. _What?_ Somehow she was only remembering these things now. _Wrong time to think about it_, she thought furiously. Out loud, she said, "Sorry, Kevin, I think I need to reselect."

"Go ahead."

The event that was on the top of her mind was also one of the fights at Syzygy; the one with her and Aj versus Folii and Mystor. She was thinking of when Folii's roserade had venoshocked her – _yeah, that one_.

"Now focus on it, and set your mind against that moment..."

Ashley felt something growing around her. She devoted everything she had to resenting the moment when that venoshock had hit. While she was at it, there was also that poison gas Toxica had used in their fight, which hadn't been so long before –

"_I heard it wasn't easy to subdue him. Even when he was shot with that stone cannon of J's, he still tried to raise that sword of his. But too late."_

Again with remembering those things. _No, no, focus on the venoshock and poison gas..._

It felt like wind was stirring around her, tapping her arms and playing with her hair. However, she knew it was power being shifted around, courtesy of Kevin.

_...the fear that coursed through her when she found that out..._

_Stop it..._ she chided herself.

_...the relief that flooded through her when she realized he was safe, after all..._

Distantly, Ashley heard Kevin's voice say, "Shoot… Something's wrong! Put everything you've got against that moment!"

_...the way adrenaline had pulsed through her twice as fast that time when J had as good as caught him..._

_Focus… I don't want special defense anymore, come on..._

_...and the triumph when Daikenki knocked the hunter away..._

The gentle breeze she had felt before now turned into a frightening gale, as though a raging pokemon was using hurricane.

"Ashley?"

_...casually saying, "Found you," afterward, ignoring the impossible tempo of her heartbeat…_

"Ashley, focus!"

There was the time she'd seen him cornered in his room, the time she'd been worried over what the nurse would think of his super-fast healing, the time she heard him as she lay in the surgical room. Looking to make sure he was all right after J had nearly annihilated him; watching the spider silk come off at her touch; glancing over as they headed back to the pokemon center, and seeing him looking back at her...

"Crap... something's wrong... going haywire..."

And the next day, when she was awake at five am, and went out on the pokemon center's balcony. He came out and they both saw the sunrise…

"Focus!"

When Kevin began the process, he managed to forget an important part. The three key parts of power swapping are an aura guardian who channels the energy...

"That's better, keep going!"

...the Lynch remembering when their stat (say, special defense) failed them...

"Don't let up!"

...and the Lynch also thinking of why they really, really want that stat raised.

Or, in this case, why they want their eyes back.

"Done!"

* * *

><p><em>Group Two: Snowpoint Labyrinth<em>

"What? You don't like the name labyrinth?"

"No. It implies that there's monsters."

"It does _not_…"

Roark grinned at the friendly bickering between Candice and Lucian. If it had been any other girl talking, one might have guessed that it was her saying she disliked labyrinths because of monsters. However, it was Candice, so Roark knew better.

"Big monsters," Lucian was saying. "Like men with the head and tail of a tauros that want to eat you. Raaar," he added for emphasis.

Candice laughed. "Labyrinth just means it's long and twisty. Like a maze."

"So call it Snowpoint maze," Lucian suggested.

Candice shrugged. "Nah. Labyrinth sounds cooler. And more extensive. Right, Wake?"

"Hm? Yeah, and by the sounds of it, it'll definitely be that," Wake snorted. "I heard it took Kyle Delta at least ten minutes to navigate through it. A psychic type!"

"You can borrow my alakazam if you'd like," Lucian offered.

"Nah. I've got my tools," Wake said, patting the bulky bag he was carrying, "and when I'm done I'll have a map."

They reached the hole behind the Snowpoint City Gym. Lucian and Wake started down. "See you soon," Lucian said, disappearing underground.

"Don't get attacked by a tauros!"

"Shut up..."

Laughing, Roark and Candice turned to each other. "So we're watching a hole. Fun," Roark commented.

"I've got a blanket spread out in the bushes over here," Candice said, motioning toward the forest twenty feet away.

Their feet crunched through the near-solid snow. It hadn't actually snowed in a while, so what was left had been melted and re-frozen several times, creating a layer of ice. Roark and Candice walked through the outer brush and sat down on a wool blanket covering the frosty ground.

"So, what do you think?" Roark asked her.

"Of?"

"This whole mess. Do we stand a chance?"

"Well, yeah." Candice looked at him calmly. "We beat Galactic, didn't we?"

"No. Remember? We didn't take them seriously until it was almost too late."

"By 'we' I meant Sinnoh in general, but I see what you mean." Candice considered it. "We're taking it seriously this time, and we're not alone. We've got the elite four on our side, and if we asked for help from trainers in general, I think we'd be pretty well off."

"Trainers in general." Roark tried the idea out on his tongue. "That would be a good idea; we'd get more support and firepower."

"Especially..." Candice faltered. Regaining strength, she continued, "Especially since I think this is going to turn into a full-out war."

Roark seemed surprised. "What? Why?"

"Syzygy has an army of sorts, and generals – if they need to use the representatives that way - and also the machine that stores energy. It's a full arsenal."

Roark digested this. "You have a point."

"Hey, I'm the gym leader known for being smart. I have to live up to that in times like this," Candice joked.

They had been talking for maybe twenty minutes when a spontaneous blast of air hit them both flat in the face. Winded, neither of them realized exactly what had happened for several seconds. And until it faded away, they also didn't notice that the air had been briefly pink.

"Does the smart gym leader have the same explanation as I do for that?" Roark breathed.

"That Lucian did that? Yeah," Candice said, stunned.

Tripping over bushes on their way out, the pair ran to the entryway to the tunnel. They dropped down the ladder, dashed down the first corridor, and went into the first room: one with rows upon rows of dark computers. Candice and Roark sped past it to the next room, which was too dark to see. They ran through anyways, and fortunately didn't run into any monsters, although the floor was oddly sticky. It was as though some liquid had dried on it. Through the next door was a brightly lit, empty expanse of wooden floors. Past that was where they ran into their first real obstacle: it was a dark room with the shattered remains of a hollow glass pillar in the very center. Two doors exited from this room, to the left and to the right.

Left or right?

Candice and Roark froze. Neither of them spoke, and neither of them moved. Finally Candice turned to Roark and smiled resignedly.

"See you in a bit." She turned and went down the hallway behind the door on the right. Roark watched as she sprinted away, then headed down the other path.

He took a left turn, then two right, choosing randomly when there were several options. He went straight down that walkway, then made a turn at the end –

"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Roark nearly tripped in his shock. It wasn't a scream he'd heard before, but it wasn't hard to tell who it was. Turning pale, he pivoted and started running as fast as he could back towards where he'd just come from. _Candice..._

He practically collided with the lady coming around the corner. "Whoa! Where do you think you're going?" she said sharply.

"I... my friend just screamed, so I'm going to go see what's wrong," he explained. Just as hurriedly, he kept on running.

"GWAH!"

Roark tripped over something on the floor and fell flat on his face. Groaning, he got to his feet and looked behind him – he'd tripped on a grass knot.

"She was trespassing in enemy territory. Really, she ought to have known better than to charge into this place so heedlessly." On closer inspection, Roark realized the lady's feet were bare, and her eyes were bright green. "And you should have known better too."

The instant the floor started shaking, Roark knew to run away. He ran as fast as he could, meanwhile hearing the plaster walls crack to make way for something to crash through. Massive, spiked tree roots hurtled in his direction, quickly outpacing his efforts to escape. The first few would themselves around Roark, cutting into his arms with their thorns. Roark cried out and tried to pull away...

"Brine!"

Suddenly the roots let go of him, and he found the concrete floor in his face. Rubbing the spot on his forehead that had hit it, Roark looked back to see the Frenzy Plant roots shriveling up...?

"Roark, go! I'll hold her off!" Wake shouted. His floatzel stood beside him. "Floatzel, ice fang!"

Roark didn't need any further convincing. He got to his feet and, ignoring the cuts on his arms, sprinted back towards the place he'd last seen Candice.

A cramp was forming in his stomach by the time he crossed the room with half a glass column in it. But he kept running through the corridor on the other side until finally, he thought he spotted something. As he neared the heap on the ground, he took in a breath sharply. It was Candice, facedown on the floor.

"Candice, what happened?" Roark panted, bending down.

She stirred and opened her eyes a little. "Got... shocked," she mumbled.

"Can you sit up?"

Candice pushed herself into a sitting position – painfully, by the looks of it. "There was an electric trap. I think I ran through it."

"I can –"

"No, your rampardos will not carry me." Candice grinned. "You know me; I'm no princess."

Roark smiled. "Okay. Let's go find Lucian."

With Roark's experience with traps (his grandfather is the underground man in Eterna), they didn't have any more trouble with getting shocked. Whenever Roark sensed a trap in the walls, they would turn back and go in another direction. Neither of them knew exactly where they were going, but they somehow knew to go that way. As Lucian was the psychic-type specialist, this wasn't as illogical as you might think.

The two of them walked through the hallways, growing in pace as Candice slowly recovered from the electrocution. Eventually they came upon a door with a small window in it.

Candice peeked through. "Lucian's over there," she said, nodding at a spot out of Roark's sight. Turning the handle, she swung the door open and went inside, Roark close behind her.

Inside, it was like a scene from a medical sci fi film. Everything looked unnaturally sanitary, from the table in one end to the surgical tools lining the shelves. A few unimpressive computers sat on trolleys situated in whatever spots had enough room to fit them.

Lucian looked up from the computer he was typing into. "Oh. Hey."

"Were you trying to talk to us?" Roark asked.

"Yeah, I had some minor difficulties. A Syzygy admin came barging in on me, and it didn't look good for me, what with him being a ghost. I stopped freaking out long enough to get Alakazam to teleport him away, but not before I sent out a signal to you guys." Lucian paused. "You might want to see this, though."

Roark and Candice stepped closer to the screen. "See, this computer is the master control for a system," he explained. "It directs energy from one source to the apparatus that uses it."

The computer screen didn't make any sense to Roark. "Er... okay. Does it say what that apparatus is?" he inquired.

Lucian shook his head. "No, but it seems to be a lot of energy that would be transferred. I can't figure out what would need that much energy to function..."

"Let's mess with it," Candice suggested mischievously. "Maybe we can ruin the system for them."

Shrugging, Lucian said, "It's got a password, and there's no telling if there's more after that. Computer hacking is the department of Kyle and Mike and Volkner; not me." As an afterthought, he added, "But it was a nice thought. Not nice for Syzygy, but for us."

"That's it, then," Roark said, not as a statement but as a question.

"Pretty much. I finished looking through the other computers –"

"That fast?" Candice was impressed.

"Well, it helped that I didn't need to use a password for those –"

"Still! That fast!"

"I guess if we're done we can get out of here – Oh, shiz," Roark said suddenly. "Wake's fighting that grass type."

"Meh. We can still get out of here," Lucian disagreed. He tossed out a pokeball. "Alakazam, can you get Wake?" The alakazam that came out nodded and teleported away. "Kay, Mr. Mime." Lucian threw another pokeball, and put his hand on his Mr. Mime's shoulder. "The advantages of being a psychic type trainer," he joked.

Barely two seconds after Candice and Roark had their fingers on Mr. Mime's arm, the four disappeared from sight.

* * *

><p>The torrent of wind died down to a mere trickle of air, then vanished. Ashley was stunned by everything that had just happened – How had so many memories surfaced after the first one did? And why did all of them have Kyle?<p>

"Moment of truth!" Kevin declared, although he sounded exhausted. "Ashley – open your eyes."

Ashley did so, and was all but surprised she could see him. "Hi!" she said, like she'd seen him for the first time that day... which, technically, she had. "How are you?"

Kevin grinned. "I'm fine. So you got your eyes back, then."

"Did I really?"

"Yeah."

Ashley facepalmed. "Uh... What did I miss?" Kevin wondered, puzzled.

"Nothing. I just fail at humor sometimes. Moving on."

"Okay. Um, there's one last test. Can you go ice mode for me?"

"Sure." Ashley drew up an atmosphere of frost around her. When it faded, she didn't look much different, but she had eyes the color of an Arctic glacier – barely blue, and almost white.

"Okay. How about dark?"

The same happened, except her irises seemed to disappear and her pupils expand enormously. It was actually her irises gaining the same darkness as the holes in her eyes. (or everyone's eyes; don't freak out, I'm talking about her pupils)

"Do you know Bankai yet?" Kevin inquired.

Ashley made a face. "No."

"Really? I heard Aj –" he stopped talking when he saw Ashley's creepy innocent smile. "Uh, never mind. So, now try dragon form."

With a whirl of dragon energy, Ashley brought about her most dramatic transformation. Her six-and-a-half-foot wings spread out on reflex, like they would be ready to take off at any moment. They glittered like the bubbles a child might blow; flashing with all the colors it isn't really. Besides the wings, her eyes –

"Oh, $%2#," Kevin swore softly.

"What?" Ashley checked to see if anything was wrong with her wings. "What's wrong?"

"Let's go show those eyes to your friends," Kevin sighed.

* * *

><p><em>Group Three: Eterna Forest<em>

"Aah... aah... ahh... aah... ahh... AAH... aah..."

"Dude." Gardenia glared at Aaron. "If you're going to sneeze, SNEEZE."

"Okay. ACHOO!" Aaron yelped. It would take an unbelievably gullible person to call that a real sneeze.

"Bless you," Byron called over his shoulder. Everyone else either mentally or physically facepalmed.

"Palmer, are we close to getting there?" Cynthia asked, changing the subject.

Palmer inspected the map he was holding. "I think so. It looks like we'll be seeing a big building, but there's nothing in sight that –" he stopped. "Do you guys see that?"

"See what?" Aaron wondered, wrinkling his nose.

"Whoa," Gardenia breathed, wide eyed.

They were facing a twenty foot tall boulder covered in dense vines and plant growth. It appeared to just be a natural rock extrusion, but it was a little too perfectly geometric to be exactly that. If you didn't look too carefully, it was easy to overlook.

"Is there a door anywhere?" Fantina wondered.

"Let's go see," Cynthia said in response.

They ventured around the giant rock, looking for anything resembling an entrance. Aaron even climbed up the vines–

"AAH! FALLING!"

–_tried_ to climb up the vines to see if there was anything on top. Nothing.

Palmer studied the map. "The entrance should be on the side we first saw… But nothing was there!"

They went back around anyways, and were startled to find a jagged, triangular door that hadn't been there before. It was wide open, leading to a steep staircase behind it.

The group hesitated. "It looks like a trap," Gardenia commented hesitantly.

Aaron didn't seem to mind. "Let's go in!" He jumped for the staircase.

"We _were_ sent here to check this out," Byron pointed out. "May as well."

Everyone else followed the enthusiastic elite four member into the rock and down the stairs. They went through a door at the bottom of the staircase and found themselves in what could have been Maylene's gym, with boxing rings and punching bags set up every few feet. Across from them was another door, and to their left–

"Whoa!" Aaron yelled, running over. "What _is_ this?"

Gardenia went over to look. "Oh, shoot!" she said, eyes widening.

The others made their way over to the glass window that made up the entire left wall. Through it, they could see a room at least the size of a football field, filled with strange conical contraptions.

"Energy receivers," Palmer determined. "One h*ll of a lot of them."

"What needs _that_ much power?" Byron scoffed.

"Do you remember zat machine zat sucked the energy out of Maylene's and Volkner's pokemon's attacks?" Fantina said suddenly.

"Not directly, but I remember hearing about –" Gardenia's jaw dropped. "_That's _what they wanted to do with all that energy. They wanted to use it in that weapon..." she trailed off. "Good thing we came," she commented.

"Too bad you won't leave."

Gardenia and Palmer jumped; Aaron yelped in shock. All six turned to look at the door on the other end of the chamber, where a teenage boy stood with his arms crossed. He wore both a smirk and a pair of glasses with silver rims on his face. Although he was no bigger than Maylene, he had an air of confidence that made him seem taller. His hair was silver and green, while his eyes glittered silver. In his hands was a riflelike mechanism much too big for him to realistically carry.

And, yes, his feet were bare.

"Of course we will," Cynthia said calmly, reaching casually for a pokeball. "We'll leave quite easily."

The boy grinned. "Try that pokeball," he said, nodding at the apparatus now in Cynthia's hand. "I dare you."

Eyes narrowing, Cynthia pressed the button on the ball. Nothing happened.

"My design. This whole room is like that, so don't expect a miracle. And the door closed behind you, in case you haven't noticed."

Gardenia looked behind her, just to check. Sure enough, the door they'd just come through had silently slid shut, trapping them inside a room with no pokeball access.

"It's convenient, being a steel Lynch," he said calmly. "Not only does it make you strong, but it also makes you particularly good at mechanics. Like this thing," he mentioned, gesturing at the device in his hands. "It allows me to convert energy in the surrounding air to whatever type of I need, and then collects and releases it for me. So let's say I want to use air slash, a flying move." He pressed a button, and lavender energy started spiraling into the barrel of the rifle. "Just collect it, and when it's charged –" Without warning, he pulled the trigger, launching a spear of flying energy at Palmer.

The Tower Tycoon gasped. A normal air slash would maybe have winded him, or perhaps given him a cut. A slightly stronger air slash could have knocked him out.

_This air slash shot straight through his chest._

"A little stronger than the average attack, even. And it makes me every type, in a sense; not just steel." The boy smiled grimly as Palmer dropped to the floor. "I'm afraid I'm under strict orders to kill you. Not my specialty, but I'm not quite in the syzygy of Syzygy yet," he remarked, appearing to be amused at his joke. "Anyway, we've got a grass type, steel type, bug type, ghost type, and 'miscellaneous type' trainer here. Who's first – how about ghost?"

Fantina turned pale. Palmer hadn't stirred since falling, and a red stain showed through the back of his jacket, even though the air slash had hit him from the front. "You are Iro, non?" Fantina asked.

"I am," he confirmed. He appeared to be pulling pure shadows from around him.

"All right." She smiled resignedly. "I suppose if I die, I ought to be a little less dumb than before, non?"

"Sounds good." Iro pointed the weapon at her. "Hope you enjoyed that."

An arrow of energy shot through her, like it had with Palmer, with the one difference being that it was made of dark energy. Fantina grimaced and fell hard backwards, into a rack of punching bags.

"Steel type," Iro said casually.

Byron looked panicked. "Not yet," he croaked, trying to back away. He backed straight into the wall. As an ultra-concentrated focus blast hurtled into his chest, he yelled, "Tell Roark I'm pro–" and then collapsed like Palmer and Fantina.

Cynthia gave Iro a glare. "How could you do such a thing? These are humans with lives and souls. And families! You have a twin, don't you? How would you like it if she was murdered?"

Iro regarded her sadly. "Like I said before, I was ordered to kill you. Now that you mention my sister, she and I owe our lives to Syzygy. They saved us when by making us into Lynches." He leveled the rifle at Cynthia. "It was nice to know you, former champion."

He had chosen dragon energy for her. It ripped through her more brutally than the other attacks, leaving a hole where her heart had once been. Cynthia's face twisted in pain and she, too, fell to the wooden floor.

Gardenia and Aaron gave each other a panicked look. "I'll make it fast," Iro promised. "Are you ready?" he was a reddish glow into his machine – fire, by the looks of it.

Gardenia wasn't prepared for Aaron's arms to wrap around her, but she didn't care. She did the same with him, completing the tight embrace.

The bug type and the grass specialist closed their eyes as they were engulfed in flames.

* * *

><p><em>From: Ira Campbell<em>

_Subject: Your colleagues_

_Day/time: Monday, 1:45 pm_

_To: Mike Voltwing_

_Hey Mike,_

_It's been a while since we last battled. If you're confused over who I am, look at the name. You didn't really think Iro was my name from the start, did you? I changed it later. Anyways, you have some friends to pick up from Syzygy's headquarters by Eterna. You may want to bring a lot of coffins. Just a suggestion._

_I apologize for my organization's command to take their lives. It was rather uncalled for and pointless. If you ask me, I'd guess it was a warning to the League and Frontier about what we can do._

_Oh yeah. Byron shouted a last minute message. Would you tell Roark his father is proud of him? Thanks._

* * *

><p>The door to Bertha's battlefield opened, and the heads of everyone waiting outside – Aj, Dawn, Mike, Ash, and Kyle – turned towards the sound. An anxious silence greeted Kevin as he stepped out.<p>

He quickly put on a cheery expression, but they'd already seen the downcast one that preceded it. "How was it?" Aj finally said anxiously.

"It went well, don't worry," Kevin reassured them. "It's just… well, see for yourself." He waved Ashley out. The five teenagers relaxed once they saw her eyes were open. "So this is normal form, and you see her eye color?" Her eyes were brown, as they typically were when she wasn't transformed. "Now she'll go ice form."

"Will she?" Ashley muttered, going into her ice mode anyways. Her eyes became crystalline blue.

"See, since ice energy is that color, her eyes are too," Kevin pointed out. "Now watch her become dragon form."

"What's the magic word?" Ashley asked, irritated.

"Pleeeease?"

She went ahead and turned into a dragon. Or at least a dragonlike (I think the word is draconic) human. Lynch. Whatever.

"Dragon energy is the color of her wings – meaning, iridescent violet. Really it's just purple, but it's also every other color. Call it rainbow, if you like," Kevin explained.

"He won't tell me what the problem is," Ashley grumbled.

"I will now. See, her eyes should be the same color as those wings –"

"Oh!" Dawn got it first, followed by Aj.

"We dragons are very violent when ticked off," Ashley interrupted.

"Ashley, your eyes are brown. Same as when you're in normal form," Kyle went ahead and told her.

She seemed stunned by this news. "So that means –"

"It means, yes, you have your eyes back," Kevin said. "And it also means no, you don't have the eyes of a dragon anymore."

Ashley looked horrified. Everyone was thinking the same thing, so Kevin didn't need to conclude his thought, but he did anyways.

"The prophecy is not fulfilled."

* * *

><p><strong>YEA! Five thousand words in three days, LIKE A BOSS. I can't believe it took me so long to write this before then…<strong>

**So, if any of you have played Pokemon Platinum, Diamond, or Pearl, you'll know that Argenta and Thorton do not have any set pokemon. They have a group of three randomly picked pokemon every time. So to write something where they used pokemon, I went ahead and gave them each three. Just FYI.**

**Somebody tell me how pin "missile" is supposed to be a physical attack. I looked it up and went WHAAAAAAT?**

**The sixth section (Group Three) was extremely weird to write. I will admit that I'm a complete n00b at killing characters, and this was a first for me. Aj HAS been pressuring me to do that for a while, though ;) She wasn't why I did it. But I did. It was remarkably bloodier than I thought I could get away with – that's probably what happens when you have a nightmare about the Hunger Games the night before you write it. That was a TERRIFYING dream… And it didn't help that it almost took place at a place that holds lots of strong memories for me. Ugh.**

**So my eight-day vacation wasn't a complete waste: while in (insert city here), I started drawing a book cover for Eyes of a Dragon. You can see it at the top. It's supposed to be the four main characters around a dragon – Kyle (upper right) has his sword out, Mike (middle) is in Bankai, Aj (lower right) is summoning a wave of water and holding a metallic water pulse at the same time (MULTITASKING), and Ashley (lower left) is about to launch a dragon-dark-ice pulse/beam. Not that she knows Bankai right now. It's just hard to see since the image is so small.**

**Anyways, enough talk. Hope you liked the chapter, if you didn't then I suggest you tell me why or suffer in silence, blah blah blah. See you in a bit!**


	19. To Play Hero or Not To Play Hero

**DID IT! Read and enjoy :D**

* * *

><p>The guest room at the Pokemon League had really nice bedcovers. They were bordered with crisscrossing blue and green lines around the edges. Behind an intricate rosebush pattern in the middle of the frame lay a backing of white cloth. The roses twisted together so that you couldn't tell which roses were actually connected by stem and which ones were just on vines that crossed. While the vines were a dark green, the flowers held a variety of reds and yellows among them. Overall, it looked really nice.<p>

Little things are just so interesting when you don't want to think about something else.

Ashley sighed and gave up studying the blanket. She'd been staring at the flowers for ten minutes, and the problem hadn't gone away.

The problem was that the topic she was thinking of might not actually _be_ a problem. What had happened in Bertha's battle room shocked her. Up until then, she hadn't seen all those times with Kyle as any different from other times. Looking back, though, the fact that she managed to remember them so strongly told her that they'd been worth remembering. And they'd all been interpreted differently from her other memories, with more emphasis on her own emotions… and Kyle. Especially Kyle.

At this point, she was no longer denying the theory Aj held from the start: that she really liked Kyle. The problem was, though, that she didn't _want_ anything to be different. Not only did she enjoy the friendship they already had, but they were heading into a freaking _war_, by Candice's logic. She and Kyle were allegedly important in the way things turned out, and if this changed anything, if this altered what her decisions would be in the future, the whole operation could be a failure. Also, they'd die.

Or at least be brain dead. You know. Mind of a fighter.

Ashley flopped backwards onto the bed. Tilting her head sideways, she traced a finger over the rose stems on the blanket. Red and yellow roses. _Flowers have meanings_, she remembered, futilely trying to avoid the subject yet again. _Hydrangeas mean "Thank you for understanding," tiger lilies are "I hate you," roses…_

She sat bolt upright. "Red roses are love," she murmured aloud, "and yellow roses are friendship. They're…" she trailed off, but her thought wasn't incomplete; just inaudible.

…_they're intertwined. Both existing at once… Thriving at once. Together._

A knock made her turn her head. Dawn poked her head through the doorway.

"Hey," she said, sounding nervous.

"Hey Dawn. What's up?"

"There's a… meeting… in the Champions' Room… It's kind of important? Um… I probably shouldn't tell you everything Mike told me…"

"I'll be down soon," Ashley cut her off.

Dawn perked up. "Great! See you in a bit." She shut the door, presumably to either find other people or go to the meeting herself.

_Maybe love and friendship can live at once, too. Maybe they're alike enough for me to act like they are the same, and maybe I don't have to change a thing. I've been worried about the idea of being in love this whole time… But really everything's the same still. I just don't have to fight against it anymore._

She laughed to herself. _Aj must have some really good eyesight._

* * *

><p>The structure of the Champions' Room was similar to how it had been under Cynthia's ownership. Shimmery stone tiles formed the floor, glass boxes with square lanterns inside lit up the room from the sidelines, and a giant pokeball symbol decorated the center of the battlefield. The main differences were that the floor tiles were a mixture of blues, with azure, sapphire, sky blue, and midnight blue among them, and the lights in the boxes were now gold. It quite obviously wasn't related to Kyle's or Mike's type specialties, but then again, they didn't really <em>have<em> type specialties. Neither had Cynthia.

Mike and Kyle were both sitting on one of the raised box lights, talking quietly. An open laptop sat calmly on Mike's knees. For some reason, there was a concerned look on both of their faces.

The co-champions looked up as Ashley came through the challenger doors. "Is something wrong?" she wondered, seeing their expressions.

"Ohhh yeah," Mike replied, grimacing. "Take a look."

He rotated the laptop so that the screen faced away from him. Ashley walked closer and read the email that was displayed. (See the last chapter)

"What?" she gasped. "That's like, a third of us!"

"I don't know what to make of the last line, either," Mike sighed.

" '…tell Roark his father is proud of him'," Ashley read aloud. "Shoot… How's Roark taking this?"

"I think he's in shock. He kind of froze when I told him earlier. He's with Candice right now, though, so that should help."

"That's… good," Ashley commented.

Hey. The guy's dad just died. What are you supposed to say to _that_?

"So anyways, I'm just getting a meeting together for our group's assignment," Mike explained, turning the laptop back around.

"Assignment?"

"The one Mike gave, since apparently he's the leader," Kyle remarked with a sideways grin.

"Hey, I just came up with whatever seemed best and hoped no one disagreed with it," Mike said, throwing his hands up. "And _don't_ even mention the fact that a group got killed that way."

"Are you talking about going after J?" Ashley inquired.

"That's it. Our best bet is to get together a police force and weaken J enough for her to go with them. If she's in league with Syzygy, the arrest warrant would be for murder."

Ashley shook her head. "I don't have a clue how you come up with these things."

"I have a brain."

"You should work on your sarcasm; that sounded sincere," Ashley said cheerfully.

"Hey–"

Aj, Ash, Kevin, and Dawn walked in. "They made me tell them what happened," Dawn said irritably.

"When the champions of Sinnoh invite you to an emergency meeting, you know something big's happened," Aj remarked sagely.

"That's all right; this is mostly for our attack on J's forces, anyways. You didn't spoil the meeting." Mike waved it off.

"Wait, Bertha's in the same group, right?" Kevin remembered, looking around. "Where's she?"

"Bertha's trying to fix the whole mess. The elite four is in charge of it all, since all the other missions are done. We're about to set out," Mike let him know.

"Darn, she doesn't get to do anything interesting," Aj commented.

"Excuse me, covering up a story about dead colleagues isn't interesting?"

Mike clearly had meant it as a joke; the smile on his face admitted to that much. Yet for some reason, Aj shuddered. "No, it's interesting. Next topic."

The electric-flying type looked taken aback. "Er… okay then. Ash, Kevin, it would be great if you could figure out J's location, preferably one she's planning on staying at for a little while, and the rest of us…" Mike bit his lip. "Really, there's not much to do…"

"Sure there is," Kyle interrupted. "We've got to get a police force to back us, and we need a foolproof plan. Because after J is through, I think we might have to go get those dead colleagues in Eterna."

"Stop calling them dead colleagues!" Aj yelped.

"Okay… Corpses?"

Aj huffed angrily. "If you can't take this seriously…" She stormed toward the door.

"Okay! I'm sorry!" Kyle backtracked quickly. Aj glared in his direction, but stopped. He seemed sincere enough. "Really!"

"Anyways, when you find a good spot," Mike concluded, "just say the word."

"The word."

"What?" Dawn gasped.

"The word." Kevin grinned. "J's heading for Hearthome. Should be there a while; the customer wants a freaking shiny pokemon. What a lazy butt."

"I'm getting the same message," Ash confirmed, his head tilted like an antennae picking up a signal.

"How soon?" Mike wanted to know.

"Right around… Now."

* * *

><p>Aj walked suspiciously quickly back to her room. A dark look was imprinted on her face, and she seemed set on just making it back to the room without anyone crossing her.<p>

"…_dead colleagues in Eterna_…"

She shivered. It wasn't like her to react to something – anything – this way, but…

The same mental picture she'd gotten while fighting Iro crossed her eyes. Grimacing, she picked up her pace…

"Aj!"

Aj turned around to find Ashley running after her. "What?"

Ashley caught up and looked straight at Aj. "What's going on?" she asked intensely.

"What do you mean?" Aj wondered, taken aback.

"Something's wrong," Ashley pointed out. "You're acting all funny. Like something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong."

Ashley gave her a Look.

"Well, besides the whole idea of death…" Aj shook her head. "It's too real."

"What do you mean by that?"

Aj shot a glare her way. "What are you, a counselor?"

"And how does that make you feel?" Ashley said calmly, briefly showing humor. Her expression then went back to the frown she'd been wearing before. "But really."

"I don't think I was expecting death," Aj said slowly. "I just thought this… I thought this all would be a battle. One side wins, one side loses. Winner gets a badge and a TM, and the pokemon rest up and are all better in the morning. But that's the thing. The fighters who get knocked out in this battle _aren't knocked out_. They're permanently gone."

Ashley's mouth formed an _Ohh_ and the frown went away. "I get it."

"You _don't_!" Aj whirled around and ran down the hall to her room.

_D#$ it_, Aj cursed, _this is so unlike me… it must be that image doing it…_

As if on cue, that same hated mental picture crossed her mind. Aj clenched her teeth, catching some tongue in the process.

_So how can I get the picture of a dying Mike out of my head?_ she wondered, tasting blood.

* * *

><p>The police force of Hearthome was at the ready; at Mike's signal, they'd rush in to take charge of J's ship. But before that –<p>

"Let's kick some hunter butt!" Ash whooped.

"Pikaaa!" Pikachu agreed. Of all the people going to Hearthome, they were the ones with the worst record against Hunter J. Dawn was second, but she hadn't been dropped of the ship at a thousand feet above the ground.

"Okay, so a lot of her henchwhoevers are gonna be out tonight," Kevin let them know. "They're looking for that shiny. Meanwhile, there should be only a few more people than us left behind. No big deal."

The group was climbing up a rocky cliff just outside Hearthome City. Kevin and Ash could sense J's ship nearby.

"Yeah!" Mike barely refrained from shouting as they reached the top of a plateau. "It's raining!"

A dark cloud cover masked the entire evening sky, without a peek of light coming through it. A light drizzle had begun to fall, but the wind was already fierce. It looked like it could turn into a storm later on.

"You sound thrilled," Kyle remarked, shivering.

"Aj and I get better power or accuracy from it," Mike explained.

"The ground's fairly hard," Kevin commented, kicking at the rock beneath his feet. "Shouldn't have too much trouble with mud."

"Kay, so, now what?" Dawn wondered aloud. They had found the immense black box that was their destination.

"Any pokemon who knows charge, come with me," Mike told them, heading for the ship. He unlatched a pokeball from his own belt.

"Got it, Megs?" Ashley called, tossing out a pokeball of her own.

"Who's Megs?" Aj wondered.

"That's Megs," Ashley said, nodding at the ampharos who'd just materialized.

"I am _not _Megs," Omega protested.

"Whatever. Go on, Megs," Ashley prodded.

With a huff, the ampharos followed Mike. Dawn's pachirisu and Pikachu were right behind him, and Needle and Chira after them (Keven's jolteon and pachirisu).

"You look anxious," Kyle let Aj know.

"Do I?"

"Yeah. Like walking up to a big box and using charge is gonna kill him," Ashley commented.

Aj snorted unconvincingly. "Ha. That's ridiculous."

"You like him, don't you," Dawn said suddenly.

Aj jumped. "What?! Heck no."

"It's okay to like someone, even if they're your friend," Dawn told her. "Actually, especially if they're your friend." She was probably thinking of Kenny, a childhood friend of hers.

No one noticed Ashley's mouth twitch into a small smile.

Aj was about to retort, but a brilliant flash of light cut her off. It was like every circuit, every battery, every large or small appliance in J's airship was letting go of its electricity. The light stopped abruptly, and any and all light from the ship ceased to exist.

Mike said a few words to the pokemon, then they started walking back over to the rest of their group. "What was that for?" Dawn asked as Mike approached them.

"To cut off possible communication," Mike said. "So J can't call for help. But just so you know," he gestured to the electric types, "we're all super charged. Whatever you do, don't get in the way of an electric attack."

"So where are we set to fight?" Ash asked.

Mike glanced around at everyone. "Outside sound good? Inside would get really cramped."

"That requires them to come out, though," Kyle pointed out.

"Four of us have been on J's wanted list for some time now," Mike said, grinning. "Shouldn't be too hard to do."

"That's 'targets', not 'wanted list'."

The ground lurched sideways, causing them to stumble and, in Ash's case, fall. Once they recovered, Kyle said, "Oh, come on. I have to face you again?"

A burly man in a leather jacket came out from behind a stray boulder. "Sure do. I need a rematch." He was followed out of the shadows by a nidoking.

Kyle picked a pokeball and released his zangoose. "Guys, they're coming!" he suddenly warned, spotting movement from the airship.

A troupe of six huge, muscular men was heading their way. Ashley sighed. "Seriously," she commented, "for a tough lady, J is such a misogynist."

"Pikachu, you're first up," Ash told his partner, who nodded solemnly.

"Mamoswine!" Dawn yelled, selecting a pokeball of her own.

"Umbreon!" Ashley.

"Andy!" Aj sent out her blastoise.

"Needle, you're going in," Kevin let his jolteon know.

"Togekiss," Mike said, "good luck."

* * *

><p>Chaos ensued immediately after the releasing of pokemon. For sixty straight minutes, battles raged across the flat rock surface. By the end, the wind had picked up and the rain's intensity was growing. Unfamiliar Unovan pokemon had showed up now and then: flying cottonballs with little brown bodies, coffins surrounded in ghost energy, and animated sets of gears were among them. Some types were easy to guess on first sight, but others took some time. Kevin in particular took five minutes to figure out that the blob of green jelly Chira was fighting was a psychic type.<p>

The matches were close – Dawn won hers and covered for Ash when he ran out of pokemon; Kyle and Aj wound up double-teaming C and G (who announced their names partway through), and Kevin ended in a draw. When the fights began to die down, there were few pokemon in good shape to battle. The trainers with the most able pokemon at the end were Kyle and Ashley, with three each. Second were Aj and Mike, who had four between them. It was clear the two sides were closely, if not evenly, matched.

"Well done, Daikenki," Ashley told her samurott. Having originated from Unova himself, Daikenki had known quite a few things about the opponent's foreign pokemon. "Take a rest… It might be short, though," she warned him.

C sighed as his galvantula fell to Kyle's gallade. "Damn. Next time," he sighed.

"What is this?"

The henchmen stiffened simultaneously, like each had been shocked with electricity. A lone figure exited the airship via a ramp on the bottom. Whoever it was had gray hair cut in a bob and a long violet coat. As they grew closer, the silver cannon on their arm and a pair of shades on their face became visible.

"You lost to a few children?" Hunter J asked, eerily quiet.

"They're not just kids, they're the champion and the _other_ champion and a frontier brain and _another_ fron–" G babbled.

"Silence! I will not tolerate excuses!" J hissed. "All of you retreat. I'll handle this."

The seven men knew better than to resist. J fiddled with the trigger on her cannon, testing if it would work. Apparently the electric types had taken electricity from that, too. J sighed. "All right then," she said formally, "we are going to do this in a civilized manner. Who will be first?"

"Since when do you follow the official rules?" Dawn wanted to know. But she stepped forward. "I only have one pokemon left. Do my friends come after me?"

J nodded. "They do. Send your pokemon out."

"Okay," Dawn agreed hesitantly. "Pachirisu!"

J took her time in picking a capsule from her belt and tossing it forward. "Ariados. String shot."

"Dodge!" Dawn yelled. Pachirisu evaded the attack easily. "Superfang!"

"Protect!" J countered. Ariados deflected the attack.

Ash frowned. _This isn't like J… she always goes on the offense. What did she use protect for?_

"Superfang, again!"

"String shot!"

Before Pachirisu could get close to the spider, Ariados shot out a clump of spider silk, entangling Pachirisu in the net. The electric type squealed and fell to the ground.

"Bug bite," J said calmly.

"Discharge!" Dawn yelled.

Ariados's assault was cut off by the near explosion of electricity that came from Pachirisu's tail. The supercharging of electricity earlier had paid off.

"Bug bite!"

The attack was a direct hit on Pachirisu, who struggled to get up. "Discharge again!" Dawn called frantically.

"Poison jab."

Pachirisu couldn't move away in time. The electric squirrel collapsed and didn't get back up.

"Thanks," Dawn whispered when her pokemon was safe in a pokeball.

"Next?" J asked.

"I'll go," Aj decided. "Vaporeon! Ice beam!"

"Evade it!"

"Water pulse!" Aj shouted immediately.

While the ice beam missed, Vaporeon's water pulse scored a direct hit. "Hurry and use ice missile!" Aj yelled over the wind.

"String shot!"

Vaporeon launched a water pulse, then froze it by sending a ice beam hurtling after it. The power of the combined moves ripped through the spider web and knocked the ariados out.

Hunter J sent another pokemon out – a cat with gold and violet fur.

Mike jumped. "It's that cat pokemon!"

J's mouth twisted into a smirk. "Ah, yes, I got you with my liepard, eh?"

Aj's expression darkened. "Water pulse!"

"Fake out."

Vaporeon stumbled as the liepard swiped at her face. "Slash," J followed up.

"Vaporeon, acid armor!" The water type melted into a puddle of water, which Liepard's claws passed through harmlessly.

J's smile almost showed humor. "Toxic!"

"Get solid again!" Aj gasped, eyes widening.

Before Vaporeon could rematerialize from the water, the liepard spurted a purple fluid into the puddle. When the water type solidified, her scaly skin had patches of purple. Vaporeon screamed and thrust a waterpulse at Liepard without Aj's word; the cat lazily sidestepped it.

"Holy #$ – return," Aj said quickly, bringing Vaporeon back into her heal ball.

J tilted her head to the side. "Your pokemon isn't KO yet," she mentioned.

"Naw, really?" Aj spat sarcastically. "Making Vaporeon fight in that condition is just pokemon cruelty." She unclasped a second pokeball. "Luoir." A lucario emerged.

"Fury swipes."

"Deflect it with bone rush."

The liepard's claws extended and slashed furiously at Aj's lucario, but Luoir blocked every hit with a rod of blue aura.

"Close combat," Aj said, barely audible over the canyon's gale.

"Thunder wave," J commanded.

Luoir rushed at the liepard, only to stumble as a jolt of electricity hit her. Her muscles tensed, but refused to move.

"Aerial ace, then," J shrugged.

"Luoir! Go for close combat!"

The lucario's attempt at hand-to-hand combat was hindered, but not entirely stopped by the paralysis. Liepard leaped up and came down on Luoir from quite a ways above her.

_Both moves are super effective!_

"How long has it been since you said something like that? Like, chapter 11?" Aj commented.

**Shut up. Your lucario is getting knocked out**.

"Luoir, close combat again!"

"One more aerial ace, Liepard."

Luoir _almost_ managed to strike the liepard. Paralysis just got in the way.

"Luoir…" Aj faltered, seeing her lucario topple to the ground.

"I'll go," Ashley decided, taking a step forward.

"Wait, let me go first," Kyle said suddenly.

"Why?" Ashley wondered, surprised.

"Just… I'll explain later," Kyle waved it away.

"Uh… Okay then." She didn't have any opposition to it…

Kyle remained standing in his spot for a few seconds, like he was waiting for something. Then he stepped forth, and Ashley returned to be with the rest of the group. Right as they passed each other, a particularly strong gust of wind blew over the mesa. Caught off guard, Kyle was knocked into Ashley as the air's force met them.

"You okay?" Ashley verified.

_Keep breathing and you won't blush_, she told herself inwardly.

"Yeah. Sorry," Kyle returned.

" 'Ssokay."

Ashley swore she saw Aj smirking at her. She chose to ignore it; now wasn't the time for a fight.

Well, okay, it was. For Kyle, anyway.

"Vulpes, join us!" Kyle called out. His ninetales shook her mane dauntingly.

"Well, now, fire versus rain?" J's voice lilted. "Liepard, go with night slash."

"Dodge."

Vulpes barely evaded Liepard's claws, which brimmed with dark energy. The dark type snarled and swiped again, still missing. "Vulpes, faint attack."

The fox disappeared, leaving a very confused liepard in her wake. "Liepard, do the same," J countered. Liepard, too, disappeared.

"Dark pulse," Kyle said aloud.

A ripple of energy spread from one point. Immediately, the liepard sprang upon the spot where the darkness had originated from, but fell upon nothing. A split second later, Vulpes reappeared, striking the liepard from behind.

"Flame burst, go."

A short blast of flame hit the liepard and knocked her to the ground, unconscious.

"Thanks, Vulpes," Kyle acknowledged. The ninetales gave a small smile.

"Haxorus," J said calmly. She picked out a pokeball and threw it out –

"Holy % #$," Ashley said quietly.

It was definitely a dragon. The pokemon was tall, close to six feet, and he reminded her of a legendary pokemon in the lithe strength in which he held himself. The haxorus's shape was very sharp-edged and intimidating, with claws on his fingers and toes and a powerful tail swinging behind him. Dark eyes peered out from the haxorus's most peculiar feature: a pair of blades poking out on either side of his mouth. They resembled axe blades, and even in the dim light Ashley could see that they were razor-sharp.

"Start with leer," J commanded. Vulpes shrank away from the dragon's cold glare.

"Heatwave," Kyle said, almost ignoring the leer. Haxorus flinched, but the attack didn't seem to hurt.

"Leer again."

"Overheat."

"This early in the battle?" Aj hissed to Ashley. "That's gonna kill Vulpes's power…"

On the other hand, the haxorus visibly took more damage than he had the first time. "Leer," J commanded simply.

"Hyperbeam," said Kyle.

"What the h*ll is he doing?" Mike wondered, frowning. "Using all this power all at once… Is he looking for a quick kill or something?"

The hyperbeam was quick enough to score a direct hit, but Vulpes couldn't move from exhaustion. And after overheat, her power was dwindling…

"Leer once more."

Vulpes flinched away from the glare, but finally seemed ready to fight back again. "Calm mind," Kyle told her. She closed her eyes…

"Okay, false swipe now." J finally attacked.

The haxorus rushed at Vulpes, slashing her with one of his blades. A gash opened up on the ninetales's side, but she remained standing. Barely.

"Hyperbeam, once more!" Kyle yelled.

Vulpes gathered power in front of her mouth and released it, all within a single moment. Haxorus didn't stand a chance.

"Return. Dragonbreath, Salamence."

"Toxic if you ca–"

Vulpes couldn't. Hyperbeam had left her immobilized, and the wave of dragon energy was enough to knock her out cold. "Thanks anyways," Kyle said softly. "Apade, join us now."

"Dragon claw, Salamence."

"Dodge and use acupressure."

"Acupressure?" J frowned. "Since when do gallades learn acupressure."

"Since now. Use it as many times as you can, Apade, but fast," Kyle called over the sound of wind.

The rain had steadily been growing up until now. By this point, the Lynches and humans were absolutely soaked, to the extent that streams of rainwater had started running down Ashley's arms and face. Aj morphed into a water type partway through Apade's battle, and didn't get wet anymore. Dawn was very jealous; her hair was a mess.

The gallade battling, meanwhile, had gone through a speed increase, defense boost, double special attack increase, and increase in attack. "That's good! Stored power!" Kyle yelled.

"Just use leer," J said casually.

Despite the cancelling out of the defense boost, Apade's stored power still had particularly high power (stored power gains power with stat boosts). Salamence, who had barely taken damage when Pikachu and Piplup had battled him, roared in pain as spheres of light surrounded and smashed into him.

"Again!" Kyle shouted.

"Protect!" J countered. This time, stored power couldn't make it through a barrier of blue-green energy.

"Stored power again," Kyle called out.

"Protect." The glassy covering blocked stored power again.

"Teleport, then stored power," Kyle directed. His gallade disappeared, and reappeared underneath Salamence's protection. The protect shattered as Apade scored a direct hit on the salamence, who lost focus.

"Fire fang," J ordered. Salamence's fangs hissed with flame.

"Close combat, slash, psycho cut, night slash, leaf blade," Kyle said quietly. At least, that's what Ashley thought he said, since it was hard to tell with the wind blowing his words away.

Apparently that was what Kyle had said, though, because the next thing Apade did was a combination. His blades extended and glowed green, lavender, black, and white all at once, the colors swirling around each other. He darted forward, approaching the salamence –

"Change of plans, fly," J barked. Salamence's fangs returned to normal as he zoomed upward, evading Apade's combination attack.

"Hold it until he comes down," Kyle let him know.

Although it clearly was an effort to do so, Apade kept the energy in his swords. Salamence soon dove down from the sky, and Apade ran forward with all five attacks –

**CRUNCH**

Kyle flinched at the sound of the two pokemon colliding. His gallade was exhausted from the fight, and had collapsed from the super-effective fly. J's salamence, meanwhile, was still standing, if barely.

"Apade, great combo," Kyle congratulated, withdrawing his unconscious pokemon. "You've got that huge mess down finally." He turned around and said, "You can go ahead, now," to Ashley.

"Didn't you have –" Aj began.

"No," Kyle interrupted. Feeling like something was up, Ashley hesitated a little to move forward. But she did.

"Daikenki, you're on." She let out her samurott. "Told you it would be a short break."

"Protect," J began.

Ashley frowned. "What's your sudden obsession with status moves? Daikenki, use taunt," she said, wiping a trail of water from the side of her face.

Before the hardened energy shell could solidify, the water type sent a smug grin in Salamence's direction. It wouldn't have been any harm if it was just that, but there was an unidentifiable power behind it. The dragon type responded by snarling in anger and losing control over the energy shield. J growled something under her breath; thankfully, the wind pulled it away.

"Oh, that's great," Kyle said happily, a grin spreading across his face.

"What, the taunt?" Mike asked.

"Yeah. It took away most of J's strategy, and now this can be made a lot faster," Kyle confirmed, eyes bright. "It completely ruins her strategy! I wish I thought of that…"

"Thunder fang," J growled.

"Launch an ice beam at him – no, wait," Ashley backtracked, "launch an ice beam _above_ him."

Daikenki seemed the least bit confused, but didn't delay. He shot a stream of ice energy above Salamence. Upon catching the drops of rain, the ice beam froze the rain together, forming a chunk of ice that just happened to be right above the salamence's head. Salamence was moving forward with the thunder fang, so it didn't hit him on the head – right in the middle of the back, though, between the wings. He roared and collapsed – double super effectiveness.

"Fantastic, Daikenki," Ashley complimented.

Mike laughed. "Just like Dawn did in that battle against me."

Dawn grinned, but remembered how long ago that had been… Even after a fight in the old power plant, things had been normal enough for her and Mike to have a double battle for fun. Now, months later, she highly doubted that after this fight, they'd be able to walk away laughing and have a friendly training match. It would probably be a break until next time, when the same would happen again…

"Drapion," J called. Brushing a soggy lock of hair from her face, she told the giant scorpion, "Take a leaf out of Delta's book and use as many fang attacks as you can. Go!"

"Counter it with razor shell!" Ashley shouted.

"As many fang attacks as you can" meant firefang, icefang, thunderfang, poisonfang, bug bite, and crunch – Ashley was judging by the colors whirling around the drapion's teeth. Daikenki drew his seamitars (which I'll explain later) and gave them water energy, slashing at Drapion. The six attacks vastly overpowered even a double razorshell. Ashley's samurott drew back, swords at the ready.

"Cross poison if it gets close," J commanded.

Ashley shrugged. "Hydro pump it is. Go ahead."

"Pin missile," J counteracted.

The moves didn't collide and cancel out like you'd expect. Instead, the sharp edges of pin missile slipped through the hydro pump, which barreled right past the former. Each respective move hit and knocked the pokemon on the receiving end back.

"Let's go for it! Razor shell!" Ashley yelled over a strong gust of wind.

The samurott charged forth, seamitars pulled back and ready to swing. Drapion's claws glowed a toxic purple, and as Daikenki got close, the scorpion slashed his claws across the water type's front. Daikenki growled determinedly, but the cross poison plus the pin missile plus the super ultra mega fang attack PLUS battling J's henchmen beforehand had taken its toll. He toppled to the ground, seamitars still in hand.

"Hey, that was great," Ashley whispered to the samurott now in her pokeball. "This rest'll be longer." She pulled out her second pokeball. "Infade, it's your turn! Start with fire spin!"

"Drapion, use pin missile!"

The infernape's fire attack burnt through the pin missile and surrounded Drapion. "Get in there and use cross poison," J ordered. Drapion lunged for Infade.

"Infade, flare blitz!" Ashley yelled.

The two moves hit simultaneously, knocking both pokemon back. Drapion clearly hadn't appreciated the attack, despite its being weakened from the rain, while Infade seemed to be in pain… like he was poisoned…

"Oh, shoot. Close combat!" Ashley shouted, wanting to knock out the drapion before the dreaded attack was called…

"Venoshock," J called, lips twisting into a grin. "Eon, that's what activated your poison a few weeks back, huh?"

Ashley clenched her teeth as Infade struggled to stay up after the poison attack. "Infade, you can do this!"

"Might as well end this. Cross poison!" J yelled.

Drapion rushed forward, only for Infade to dodge his claws and use close combat. In a blind rage, the giant scorpion swung his claws at the infernape.

Breathing hard, Ashley watched her infernape tumble to the ground. Drapion followed suit.

"Infade, way to go," she said, smiling slightly. Now it was J's last pokemon versus Sagitta and Mike's two pokemon. No trouble at all. Ashley put away Infade's pokeball and reached for Sagitta's, which was on the very side of her belt…

…should_ be on the very side of my belt…_

Ashley looked down and took in a sharp breath. Sagitta's pokeball was gone! She was positive it had been there before…

"Ashley, is something wrong?" Aj wondered.

Ashley looked back up and tried to look calm. "Uh, no…"

"Mike, go ahead," Kyle prompted. Mike stepped forward and selected a pokeball.

Heart sinking, Ashey fell back in line. _Where is Sagitta? She couldn't have just… how… She'd have told me if she was going somewhere, like she did that time at Snowpoint…_

Mike was beginning his battle. "Sandslash, it's all you right now!"

"Volcarona, string shot!"

"Dodge."

"Oh, so that's what a volcano-thing is," Aj said cheerily. "The thing Kyle had to face a while back."

"Keep going with string shot."

"Keep dodging!"

J's Unovan fire-bug type shot pieces of silk at Sandslash, who avoided them at the last minute. The group of Lynches and humans watched anxiously, while Sandslash started getting tired.

"Incinerate," J finally said. Volcarona shot a stream of flame at Sandslash, who tried to evade it. The incinerate still managed to scorch her backside.

"Crush claw," Mike yelled. "Get some fury cutter in there, too."

Volcarona evaded the first crush claw, but didn't realize it was supposed was going to be back to back – courtesy of fury cutter. The next few crush claws hit Volcarona right in the stomach…

"Silver wind!"

Mike didn't hesitate. "Swift!"

Both moves blew right by each other; Volcarona was aiming from up in the sky, while Sandslash had released the attack from lower down. Each move hit straight on, and both pokemon looked like one good hit could finish them off.

So, both trainers called out one good hit.

"Fire blast!"

"Hyperbeam!"

***explosion of happiness!***

After the moves impacted the two pokemon, both collapsed. All down for the count… except for Mike's luxray plus several Lynches who could fight.

"Looks like we win," Mike declared, withdrawing Sandslash. "Can someone call the police force now?"

"Sure," Ashley said, reaching for her Xtranceiver.

"I don't think you won," J stated suddenly, mouth widening in a triumphant grin.

"Yeah, we did. That's what it's called when all of your opponent's pokemon are knocked out," Kevin let her know.

"Who says? Fire at will!"

"Fire – what?" Aj said, dumbfounded.

Flashes of red light lit up the edges of the plateau – the flashes of pokemon exiting their pokeballs. Some covered the ground, others flew up to block off escape from the air. The group who thought they'd just won was surrounded.

"Oh no," Mike groaned. Kevin finished the thought for him.

"J's other men came back from their mission."

Hydro pumps, flamethrowers, air cutters and hyperbeams flew at them, among many other ranged attacks. "Get down!" Kyle shouted, pushing Ash and Dawn to the ground. Aj dove out of the way of a leafstorm, pushing Mike away from a signal beam in the process. Ashley let go of her Xtranceiver, and she and Kevin ducked on their own.

Ashley saw Kyle throw out two pokeballs. _What?_ she wondered, astonished. _I thought he was out of pokemon…_

"Help us out, guys!" Kyle yelled.

A pair of pokemon similar in shape appeared. They were not the same size or, when the red light faded, the same color, but they were clearly related. The two pokemon used protect, encasing their friends in a green-blue bubble.

Aquila and Sagitta.

"How…?" Ashley gasped. _Sagitta was missing…_ She remembered Kyle waiting for a few seconds to walk forward to battle, and how the wind had _coincidentally_ knocked him into her…

"Everyone grab on!" Kyle called, placing a hand on his latios. Everyone grabbed the wing of an Eon pokemon... except Ashley.

Hey, as long as she was treating him as just a friend, she may as well get mad at him like a friend.

She glared at him. "You stole Sagitta?"

"Not stole –"

"Do you have any idea how badly I _freaked?_"

Kyle's expression showed regret. "I'm sorry. I couldn't say it out loud, or else J would have caught on. She had a liepard up; you know how dark types are with psychics."

Ashley huffed. "Whatever. Let's just get out of here." She rested a hand on her latias.

"I'm staying."

Everyone stared at Mike like he'd just announced he was a magikarp. "Are you insane?" Kevin gawked at him. "That's suicide!"

"There's still a chance of getting J out of commission!" Mike insisted. "Look, the minute you guys teleport out of here, call the Hearthome police. I'll handle the rest."

"Mike," Aj said angrily, "you can't just play the hero. This is serious!"

"I'm serious!" Mike told her. "Hurry; the protect is cracking." He pointed behind Ash, where cracks were indeed forming.

"Mike, you're coming with us," Aj said firmly.

"Hurry up and go!"

"Come on, idiot." Aj grabbed his arm. Suddenly, she gasped, static coursing through her body. Her eyes widened in the realization that Mike had just thunder waved her.

Mike pushed her into Sagitta. "Ready, get set, go," he said in a dull, almost lifeless tone.

The latii and their passengers, however reluctant, disappeared.

* * *

><p>The instant the pokemon teleported away, the protect shattered. Mike evaded a fire blast and quickly scanned the arena. He grinned.<p>

_Not a single one is a ground or electric type._

"Shiolu, don't get hit," he yelled, sending out his luxray. Shiolu immediately dodged a dark pulse.

"What the h*ll are you trying to do?" Shiolu yelped, ducking under a hyperbeam.

Mike morphed into the type shared only by the Unova region's emolga: electric-flying. He'd perfected Bankai when none of his friends were around, which was good, because his surroundings never seemed to appreciate his highest form. "Shock me," he said quickly. Shiolu looked surprised but didn't hesitate – he knew Mike had a plan. Electricity surged into the Lynch, giving him all the charge Shiolu had stolen from J's airship. Eventually the luxray finished, panting. "Thanks," Mike blurted, wincing in pain. Despite being an electric type, he didn't have lightning rod or motor drive. Mike withdrew his pokemon and simultaneously avoided an ice beam and air cutter.

"Here goes," he muttered.

Spreading his wings, Mike soared up, so that he was just higher than the highest flying types – not that they were very high, maybe only twenty feet or so. They weren't. Ignoring a blizzard that had just hit him, he aimed a weak charge beam at the thunderhead above him.

The plateau lit up with a painfully bright light as electricity flooded down from above. An electric current rushed through anyone and everyone nearby, full of power and able to knock all out cold. The difference in charges between the clouds and a point closer to earth was enough for an incredibly massive exchange to occur. It's what lightning is. In the pokemon universe, it's also called the move Thunder. This, though, was more than Thunder. Way more.

Every living being within twenty feet of the rocky plateau was knocked out just a few milliseconds into the extreme lightning strike. So when the light died down, a full ten seconds later, the only sign of motion was a lone winged figure, falling to earth.

Mike's eyes were closed.

* * *

><p><strong>Has Mike ever had a heroic part? (thinks back) Well, this should make up for it.<strong>

**Few things here. First off, the flower meanings up top are the only flower meanings I actually know. They came from other authors. The hydrangea was from Hero of Truth's "Pokemon Black: The White Hero of Truth". Tiger lilies were BluechanXD's the "Prince and I". Both red and yellow roses are from a story on Wattpad called "Late Summer Rain" by AubreyEatsHearts – READ IT. IT IS... oh my god. Just read it. It's amazing.**

**Bonus points go to anyone who can guess the mysterious Unovan pokemon mentioned briefly in the 60 minute battle before J's.**

**I'm being just a little mean to Aj, I know. It's actually very, very plot related. VERY. So it's necessary. Speaking of plot related, I was ecstatic when I finished the chapter because I DID IT! Somewhere in this chapter is a major. MAJOR. Plot event. And the ending has about a million innocent foreshadowy bits in here, too :D I'm just happy...**

**I don't like haxorus. It stressed me out while I was trying to create something like a Lynch character in my other story. Haxorus jut wouldn't fit. I finally reassigned the character, but seriously... (glares at haxorus)**

**Seamitars! I looked it up, and when Dewotts evolve into Samurotts, their scalchops become known as seamitars. Did you know this? I had no idea until a few days ago.**

**On a totally unrelated note: Has anyone watched Internet Icon? If so, who is/was your favorite team? Mine was (really still is) theFuMusic... Words don't do them justice, as often evidenced by Ryan and Christine's inability to speak after seeing one of their videos. Go look them up on YouTube to see, if you haven't already. Internet Icon, too, while you're at it. It's pretty cool.**

**I finished this with one full day to go before heading to all-day band camp. Not sleepaway, but I'm glad I got this finished before having no time to work on it. Hope you liked this, review, etc.**

***explosion of happiness***


	20. Three Days

**20 chapters! ^_^**

* * *

><p>Aj Ferra stared blankly up at the list of patients on the wall.<p>

1 critically poisoned vaporeon

1 overexhausted ninetales

1 gallade with a pair of broken arms

1 badly poisoned infernape

about a bazillion wounded pokemon of less serious degrees

…and then the last one.

1 electric-flying Lynch

The last hour or so had been chaotic. After teleporting to the Hearthome pokemon center, they'd all run to the nearest window to watch what was happening at the Hearthome Plateau. Ashley had purchased a cheap Paralyz Heal for Aj, which cured her paralysis but not her anxiety. A minute or two later, lightning struck, and none of them had a doubt that Mike had done it. Not that it made their mentality any better.

Oh, sure, he'd been the hero. He'd annihilated something like 88% of J's forces, who'd all been left for the police to pick up like fish in a dry lake. (they were fine; just unconscious) J herself got away, along with six others, but the bulk of her power was gone.

Sagitta and Aquila had immediately gone back to check out the damage done to the one familiar face on the plateau. They'd returned with worried, almost haunted expressions and an unconscious, slightly charred Lynch in Aquila's arms.

A Lynch who'd been electrocuted by heck-who-knew how many volts. And then who'd fallen from the sky and broken his wing and arm and cracked his skull. And who now had a concussion and, if really unlucky, might not make it through the night.

You heard that right.

_Might not make it through the night._

It was nearing two in the morning, and Aj couldn't make herself go to sleep. She just couldn't. It was one of those things where you knew there wasn't anything you could do, but you had to be there just in case, anyways.

"You're up early."

The lucario who'd spoken walked silently over to her upset trainer. "Oh, never mind. You never even went to bed. Up late."

Aj sighed. "Hey Luoir. Why aren't you sleeping?"

A light thump indicated that Luoir had settled down next to Aj, on the floor of the dark hallway. "Getting knocked out sucks, but it also means you get a sleep bonus. I just woke up because of that bonus – although it probably helped that I sensed you here."

"Sorry."

Luoir shrugged. "No need to be. Guess your friends can't see a romance when it happens."

The abrupt change of topic caught Aj completely off guard. "What?"

"Come on. Dawn finally figured it out today."

Aj rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Okay, yes. I like him. I like him a lot."

"Did you admit it to yourself?"

"Eventually."

"And they never suspected a thing."

Aj laughed lightly. "They thought something was wrong, but they didn't know what. How obvious was I?"

Luoir considered this. "Well, from the inside of your pokeball, I could see you drop little hints that ranged from four hours to five minutes apart. Give or take a few seconds."

"Whatever. At least they didn't figure it out."

"Dawn did."

"What counts is that Mike doesn't know."

"True. You gonna keep it that way?"

"I'd say so," Aj replied. "Much easier and less stressful."

"Waiting in the hallway doesn't count as not letting him know," Luoir mentioned.

Aj shrugged. "He won't come out and see me. Can't hurt."

"Why are you here, then?"

Aj didn't answer. Luoir looked at her trainer and then shook her head. "No, that's a stupid question. Just makes you feel better to stay. Guess it can't hurt." The lucario thought about this some more. "Except for your sleep. It's really hurting your sleep."

"Who cares?" Aj asked. It was rhetorical.

"Me," Luoir answered anyways. She grabbed Aj by the shoulders and pulled her sideways.

"Whaaah~" Aj found herself on the ground with her head in Luoir's lap. Blinking, she looked up into the face of her starter pokemon.

"Go to sleep. I'll wake you if anything happens," Luoir assured her.

With a small smile of gratitude, Aj closed her eyes.

* * *

><p>Fyr slowed to a stop, kicking up a small cloud of dirt. Catching her breath, she uncapped her water bottle and took a swig. Five miles through Eterna Forest was enough training for one day.<p>

She glared as her brother ran past her.

"Come on," Iro taunted, turning around so he was jogging backwards. "Don't tell me you're tired already."

"I'm part _rock_. Rocks aren't fast," she protested.

"Aerodactyls are," Iro pointed out.

"Those are part flying."

Iro sighed. "Look, we have to keep training so we can defeat the other Lynch forces. We owe our lives to Syzygy; the least we can do is help them reach their goals."

Fyr shrugged. "Whatever. The whole Lynch thing is still kind of scary."

"Not as scary as the Syzygy admins if we don't get back soon," Iro mentioned, turning back around to run faster.

"That's another three miles from here!" Fyr whined. She ran again anyways.

* * *

><p>Luoir had promised to stay with Mike. That was the only reason Aj had agreed to go over to the vacant Hearthome Gym and work with Kyle and Ashley on Bankai.<p>

"I got it!" Kyle exclaimed.

A lightweight armor covered his chest and shoulders, and a small bit of metal even covered his knees. His sword was long, straight, double-edged, and narrow, with the same ∆ symbol hovering around the hilt. Besides that, he didn't appear much different.

"Really?" Ashley said suspiciously.

"Yep."

"Prove it, cause you don't look any different from secondary," Aj challenged. Within the blink of an eye, her own Bankai came out. Her before-and-after differences – silvery skin, blue hair, blue and gray eyes – were so drastic, it wasn't hard to doubt Kyle's Bankai claim.

Grinning, Kyle swept his sword horizontally in front of him. Aj blocked the glowing blue projectile hurled her way, but seemed surprised.

"The delta?"

The triangular letter flew back to Kyle's sword, sliding back to its position above his hand.

"Cool, huh?" Kyle said. "Things like focus blast will be hugely more powerful this way."

"But are you psychic type," Aj reminded him. It was a statement, not a question.

He swung his sword again, and now the ∆ shot out with a pinkish glow. Aj dodged this one.

"Mist ball," Ashley realized. "Sagitta's move."

"Not just hers." Like a boomerang, the ∆ returned to Kyle.

"Bankai means you can do both at once, though," Aj mentioned.

"Okay then."

The ∆ shone with a swirl of blue and pink energy, a combination of focus blast and mist ball. Kyle thrust his sword forward, unleashing the fusion of psychic and fighting power in the Greek letter for his last name.

Aj's forearm glinted, and she deflected the hit with her iron defense. "Ow," she said, surprised. The collision blew her back a few feet. "Okay. You got Bankai."

"Lucky," Ashley grumbled.

_Wow_, she said to herself. _He did it._

"Your turn," Kyle said cheerfully, letting the armor and sword dissipate.

"I can't. I've been trying for weeks."

"It's mental as well as physical," Aj recalled. "Like, even for me. It didn't happen until I figured out what I wanted Bankai for."

"Like what?"

Aj's eyes darted away. "Uh, just to protect friends. Sounds cheesy. Whatever."

Ashley thought it might have been something more than cheesy, but she didn't press further. "Kyle, did it happen like that for you, too?"

He nodded. "I was thinking about the war. I just want the thing with Syzygy to finish and be over with. And then it happened. Bankai."

"Does Mike know Bankai?" Ashley wondered.

Aj bit her lip. "That flash of lightning was pretty big. I'd _guess_ yeah. And I _did_ show him how to do it not long after getting out of Snowpoint's labyrinth."

"So I have to think of something," Ashley echoed.

"Yeah."

She huffed. "This should be a breeze…" she muttered sarcastically.

* * *

><p>"Secondary?" Ash wrinkled his nose.<p>

"Yeah. Better than primary or normal, but not so good as Bankai," Dawn confirmed.

"What?"

"That's how Kyle explained it to me, anyways."

"I've got no idea what you're talking about."

"Lynch forms."

"I know _that_. But the forms are water, ice, bug, electric–"

"No, the forms are normal, pri–"

"See? Normal. Normal's another type. Dark, psychic, grass–"

"Would you _listen_…" Dawn's eyes latched onto someone leaving the Pokemon Center. "Oh, there's Kevin. He can explain it to you. Nice deus ex machina, huh?"

"That's not a deus ex machina," Ash protested, running down the cobbled streets after her. "Do you even know what a deus ex machina _is_?"

"Kevin!" Dawn called, ignoring Ash. "Hey!"

The aura guardian looked up. "Oh. Hey."

"Ash doesn't get the forms of Lynches," Dawn informed him.

"Of course I do, it's just you can't explain it righ –"

"Forms," Kevin said shortly, cutting Ash off. "What they mean are how much power a Lynch holds."

"Can't they just train to get more powerful?"

"Yep. That's how they manage to reach each higher level," Kevin explained. "Otherwise they won't be able to use Bankai, or Shikai, or even primary in some cases."

"So what are the levels?" Ash inquired.

"I'm getting there. The first is called 'normal'. What it is, is an untransformed Lynch. No wings, no sword, no elemental manipulation or other powers. They look like any other human.

"Next is 'primary'. They'll have a little power, just in the basic elemental moveset, and some features might change. It's generally eye color that's different, but I'm pretty sure Aj's hair likes to change color, and Kyle gets a sword when he's in fighting mode. Wings will come out here, if you're in the right element. Primary can only be one type.

"'Shikai' is the next level. The Lynches we know personally don't use it a whole ton – it's much easier and faster just to deal with your problems using primary form – but Kyle seems to like it. The general pokemon stats like speed and special attack are boosted, so they get a power-up of sorts. They might also get different clothing, like armor or a cape or something. That's the elemental energy solidifying, which can be either handy or useless. As far as I know, Ashley's Shikai cape is just for dramatic flair."

"Shikai… You mean 'secondary'?" Dawn wondered.

"Secondary…" Kevin pondered this. "I guess that would make sense, since the one form before it is primary. I know it as Shikai, though."

"Kyle called it secondary," Dawn mentioned.

"Call it either," Kevin decided. "Anyways, Shikai – or secondary – can be only one element at a time, as in primary.

"Bankai is last. In addition to a power boost again, this form is multiple types. I'd _guess_ that means all the types a Lynch has, but since Ashley hasn't learned Bankai yet, it's anyone's guess whether it's every type at once or just two at a time. Lynches also look quite a bit different here – Aj turns all bluish-silver since she's water-steel. And they get…" He looked at the sky. "Um, I dunno how to put it… A special ability? Something unique as a power that has more to do with the Lynch themselves than his or her elements, although their types do influence it. It's called a 'vindica'."

"What about the Syzygy Lynches?" Ash realized. "They're like, one element each, right?"

"Folii, Mystor, Toxica, and Crateron are single-typed. Iro is definitely a dual-type, so I'd guess his twin sister is as well. Don't know that for sure though," Kevin responded.

"But the ones who are just one type –"

"Oh, Bankai. No clue. For all I know, they haven't even reached Bankai. If they have, a power boost and vindica are certain. No idea beyond that."

"Is that it?" Ash asked.

"Yep."

Ash turned to face his friend. "How come you couldn't explain it like that?"

Dawn facepalmed.

* * *

><p>"How's it going? This is a really nice turnout."<p>

Upon hearing Candice's words through the microphone, the noise in the room ceased. Someone shushed everyone else really loudly, stirring up a brief fit of giggles.

"Sorry for holding this meeting so out-of-the-way; we needed to check that any volunteers would be compatible," Candice said. A few trainers sat up straighter. "There is another meeting in the Battle Frontier for the same purpose, but that's beside the point.

"So I suppose you all know this, but I'm supposed to go through everything anyways…" Fishing a notecard from her pocket, she continued: "A week ago, the Pokemon League sent out posters to all of Sinnoh's cities, requesting help to oppose Syzygy. Essentially, we are forming a small army to defend the League.

"This will not be an easy task. Syzygy has proven to be a tough opponent. They've killed gym leaders and frontier brains, and even the former champion, for Arceus's sake! The fights that will occur most definitely have the possibility of death. Some may be you, your pokemon, your friends. If you like, you may leave now, but not during battle."

You could have heard a pin drop. Taking a quick glance around the room, Candice gave a grim smile. "All right then. Let's get to work."

* * *

><p>Aj was losing patience.<p>

"All right, you can go in," the nurse sighed, "but don't touch the equipment."

The water-steel Lynch strode back to the hallway where Luoir was waiting. "She said yeah," Aj informed the lucario.

"About time," Luoir huffed, springing to her feet. "It's been three days. Any longer would be child abuse toward you."

"You calling me a kid?" Aj joked, pulling the door open.

"Legal adults are supposed to be aged 18, and you're only…" Luoir noticed Aj was no longer listening and gave up.

Aj's eyes had found the Lynch who hadn't woken up since the night he'd fallen from the sky. For someone who could have died several days ago, and who still had that possibility, he appeared remarkably serene. He was either in flying primary or secondary form or in Bankai; it was hard to tell exactly what, but the great white wings sprouting from his back indicated a definite flying presence. One wing was folded neatly by his side, while the other had been extended and fastened to a splint. Mike's wing was long enough for the end to have been propped up on a neighboring hospital bed. Linen strips encircled his head, keeping his fractured skull in place. One forearm was wrapped in bandages.

Aj sighed. Sure, he fell from the sky, but he also had super-fast Lynch healing powers. This shouldn't have been happening.

"And where are they keeping your pokemon?" Aj murmured. "I can't imagine your tyranitar taking up the space under this bed."

She pulled a rolling chair across the floor and sat down in it. Looking up, she found Luoir still standing. "There's another seat over there," she said, indicating a rolling chair on the other side of the room. Luoir shook her head.

"I'll stand. Rolling chairs make me dizzy. Too unpredictable," she explained.

Aj nodded shortly and looked back at her sleeping friend. Wires had been hooked up to him, some on his neck, some on his arm, a few somewhere under his shirt. An IV drip connected to his shoulder. Nearby was a heart monitor, with a line essentially displaying Mike's survival. Other monitors hovered over him, but Aj only recognized the one for the heart. It was in the front, the slow, steady beat in full view. Just in case? Maybe.

"It's been a while," she said softly. "You can wake up anytime." He didn't move.

"Kyle's got Bankai now – I showed him a day ago. Ashley's still stuck on it, which really annoys her." Still no motion.

"I guess your Bankai must be pretty well developed by now, for you to have knocked out tons of people, _plus_ yourself like that."

Only the shallow rise and fall of his chest answered her.

Aj laughed halfheartedly. "I don't know why I'm talking to you. It's not like you can hear me." She paused.

"Maybe it's cause… I miss you a little," she said slowly. "I haven't legitimately talked to you since when I tried to make you come back to Hearthome with us. And even that was just barely, since the protect was breaking and you wanted us to hurry. I guess this sort of makes up for it."

There was a ten-second pause. Then she bit her lip and said, "Well, okay, forget that. This doesn't even compare. But," she continued, suddenly knowing what to say, "you really should wake up and stop worrying us all. The nurse has been so anxious over your condition, she wouldn't even let anyone step in here for three days. And that heart monitor right there?" She pointed at the screen, despite the fact that he couldn't currently see it. "It's right in front, so they'll know immediately if something's wrong. And the nurses aren't the only ones concerned for your life."

She chose not to elaborate on that.

"Anyway… Yeah, wake up. So you can stop scaring the nurses and making me miss you. Oh, and then we can get some training done once you're up, cause we need to get to Eterna at some point," she added cheerily.

Standing in the corner, Luoir smiled softly.

Mike opened his eyes maybe eight minutes later. Aj was pretty happy.

* * *

><p>C rubbed his forehead in anxiety. "I can't believe this. No." He gestured at the injured middle-aged woman laying on a bed before him, in an airship far from Hearthome City. "If we screw up and she dies, she'll <em>kill<em> us."

P, a short, bald man, scrunched up his nose and said, "How does that work?"

G hit him upside the head. "Forget it. We just gotta keep her alive."

It had been three days. Three days since six of J's most trusted henchmen had returned, defeated, to the airship. Three days since they'd watched their boss take her time in what probably could have been a short battle. Three days since the rest of J's small army barraged their targets of several months with attacks.

Three days since the Lynch with bird wings had zapped the plateau into oblivion.

The six had been fine. The outer hull of J's airship was protected against electricity, fire, the like. J herself, however, had still been outside when lightning struck.

The priority of her remaining henchmen had been to get their boss to safety. They'd found her unconscious nearby the ship, and set their sights on the fallen Lynch. Before they could reach him, though, the latios and latias they'd seen protecting those Lynches earlier returned to take the boy away. Knowing the police would be informed – that boy was a Champion, after all – the remainder of J's forces had flown away with the ship and their boss…

Now, though, she still wasn't waking up, and the beat of her heart was growing irregular. There was no way in heck they could get to a doctor if they didn't want to go to jail right afterwards.

"Are we supposed to shock her or something, if her heart stops?" P wondered nervously.

"Really? But that's the same element that's nearly killed her," G pointed out.

C froze. "Element," he croaked. "Nearly killed by an element." A smile slowly trickled across his face.

"Let's call Syzygy."

* * *

><p>Kevin was alarmingly fascinated with Mike's inability to heal at the normal Lynch rate.<p>

"Can I have my wing back?" Mike finally said after five minutes.

Reluctantly, Kevin released the still-healing limb. Mike gingerly folded it up against his side – the splint had been removed, though only for convenience. It was still healing, but walking around with a six-foot wing hanging out to the side – Mike had to stay in flying primary for it to heal – would be a huge pain in the butt. Or wing, seeing as that would probably knock into everything around it.

"Really, though, it's bizarre," Kevin remarked. "You should be fine by now."

"And yet, I'm not," Mike said tiredly. "The moment it's healed, we need to get to Eterna. So we'll need a plan for that."

It was why they were all there. Aj, Mike, Kyle, Ashley, Kevin, Ash, and Dawn. Pikachu was outside somewhere, messing around with Piplup and a bunch of other relatively small pokemon of Ash and Dawn's (not Mamoswine or Torterra; this was a city). The seven had gathered in a vacant meeting room within one of the more elite hotels in Hearthome – a hotel for those who could afford quite a bit more than the average travelling trainer. They were only there because Pokemon Centers, including the one where they were staying at, didn't have meeting rooms. So the mini conference was being held here.

"Don't forget J," Ash reminded them. "We still gotta find her."

"We'll get to that, but we've left the… corpses," Kyle said, shooting a quick glance at Aj, "in Syzygy's Eterna headquarters for what, four or five days now?"

"Fair enough. Also, it was five days ago," Ash let him know.

"So," Aj began, "I say we fly to Eterna, follow our photocopy of the map the third group had, and get in. We've probably got enough firepower to handle whatever's there, seeing as Syzygy's focused on other places besides Eterna. Our pokemon can handle it."

"And the pokemon of Cynthia, Palmer, Fantina, Byron, Aaron, and Gardenia combined couldn't?" Ashley pointed out. "I mean, sure, Gardenia might have been the second gym leader, but Cynthia and Aaron and Palmer in particular…"

"I thought that was weird too," Dawn agreed. "These guys must have really insane pokemon to be able to do that – legendaries, even."

"We'd have heard about that," Kyle mentioned. "When Galactic came to Sinnoh, they kept targeting legendaries – Dialga, Palkia, Uxie, Azelf, Mesprit – but we heard about it because that was the main focus of everything they did.

"Same with Aqua and Magma in Hoenn, right?" Dawn inquired of Ash.

He nodded. "And Rocket in Kanto. All the big bad guys like to use legends to do their dirty work. I got to meet them all; how lucky," Ash said sarcastically.

"No, Syzygy doesn't have legendaries. They'd have made a move by now, if they had. Something is definitely up," Mike stated. "At the same time our colleagues were in Eterna, Crateron was at the power plant. Folii and Mystor were both in Snowpoint, as well. Besides that, the wording of Iro's email makes me think he was the only one there, plus maybe a few grunts. But he and his pokemon should have been no problem, and the grunts… Well, come on. Ashley and Kyle have beaten an army of grunts using _textbooks_."

"If not, then what is it? You seem to know," commented Aj.

Mike gave a nod. "Syzygy had exactly one advantage over the group we sent there. It wasn't in numbers – grunts don't count anyways. It wasn't in Pokemon strength – we definitely had the upper hand there."

"Well?" Aj prompted impatiently.

"Thing is, it was six humans and thirty-six pokemon against one Lynch and six pokemon. Now, if you take away all of the pokemon in there–"

"Six completely unarmed humans against a Lynch who knows Bankai," Ashley groaned.

"Right, And there's these mechanisms you can put into a place so that pokeballs won't let a pokemon out, or if the pokemon already is out, it'll call the pokemon back and lock them in. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but there's probably one in place at the Syzygy Eterna headquarters. If that was it, our gym leaders and frontier brain didn't stand a chance."

"But Lynches are fine," Ashley observed.

Mike smiled grimly. "Exactly. We're the only ones who have a chance of getting in and out in one piece."

"Isn't that suicide?" Dawn frowned. "You guys are Syzygy's _targets_. What if this is a trap?"

"If it's a trap, it's a trap. And we all – uh, mostly – know Bankai now."

"Yay, I'm special," Ashley muttered.

"What about us?" Ash wanted to know. "You guys will go to Eterna, okay. But we're not all Lynches."

Mike caught Kevin's eye. "It'd be best for you three to just stay behind."

"What?" Ash exclaimed.

"And do _nothing?_" Dawn yelped.

"Look, you guys won't have any defenses if you go," Mike explained.

"Me and Kevin can use aura," Ash protested. He conjured an aurasphere between his palms. "Look!"

**BOOM**

"Yes, very intimidating," coughed Mike, waving some smoke away.

"Messing with aura only goes so far. If you stayed back, you'd actually be more of a help because we wouldn't have to protect you," Ashley told him.

"I know how to make barriers, too –" Ash started.

A quiet voice cut him off. "It's really better if we're out of the way," Kevin said gently.

Ash and Dawn gave him twin incredulous looks. "Whaaat?" they cried in unison.

"Is there nothing –" Dawn began.

"We won't get –" Ash started to say.

"It's simpler, there's less people to worry about, they can handle the lack of pokemon on their own," Kevin listed.

"But we can handle–"

"I mean handle it _well_," Kevin corrected. "It's not an insult for us to stay behind; it's a necessity. Just this once, and we'll help out next time."

The two thirteen-year-olds pondered this. Despite having protested so strongly a moment before, they were silent now.

"Don't worry, we won't die," Kyle reassured them jokingly.

Adjusting his wing, Mike stood up. "Guess that's it. Me, Kyle, Aj, and Ashley are heading to Eterna… Once this d*mn wing heals, at least."

* * *

><p>There was a triumph in Eterna City: Toxica had learned Bankai.<p>

"That's not Bankai, idiot."

"Yes it is, idiot."

"It's only one type, idiot."

"_She's_ only one type, idiot."

"It's still –"

"Would you two _kindly_ shut the h*ll up and let me know how to use this damn form," Toxica said poisonously (pun intended). Upon entering Bankai, her skin had turned paper-white, with thin purple veins snaking by her temples and the insides of her arms. Her nails had elongated and grown sturdier, so that they were now violet claws stretching out from her fingertips.

"All right," said Iro, one of the two bickering twins. "Well, you now have these Bankai-specific things called a vindica, a nemesial, and a power boost –"

Fyr interrupted, "Lynches get power boosts with _every_ form change, derpface."

Iro stuck his tongue out at her childishly. Toxica groaned. "You two are so hopeless…"

"Toxica." Mystor came into the training room. He was in regular form, so he was using a physical voice instead of the corporeal one he'd assumed during the double battle against Aj and Ashley. Additionally, his eyes were blue. "Oh, good, you've got Bankai too, now. It's just Crateron left, then."

"Thanks to us," Iro said proudly.

"Cocky *sshole," Fyr coughed conspicuously.

"Shut up."

"Toxica, I'm just here to let you know that our new recruit – oh yeah, guess it's not just Crateron who needs Bankai – is doing particularly well in her training. I was hoping you could help her, since you have a toxicroak that knows thunderpunch."

"No prob. She got to Shikai yet?"

"Sort of. Ice is a yes; electric is a no."

"I'm still impressed they could give her ice," Toxica mentioned. "It was electricity that nearly killed her."

"It was a roundabout sort of deal," Mystor said, waving his hand dismissively. "Something like Michael Voltwing got in the way of a pretty severe blizzard attack just before he launched the electricity. It didn't affect Voltwing so much in Bankai, but it managed to get through to the Lynch process we use."

"How nice," Toxica mused, a grin slinking catlike across her face. "J will have the advantage over the Lynch she keeps targeting and eventually losing. That should make her happy."

"Particularly once she reaches Bankai. Speaking of which, how's yours coming along?" Mystor wondered. "Have you found your Nemesial?"

"We just got started on Vindica," Fyr informed him.

"Oh." Mystor sounded a little disappointed. "Let me know when you do, so we can know how to cover for it. Can't have any weak links."

"Weak link," Toxica snorted. "Sheesh."

"You coming?" Mystor inquired, turning back towards the door.

"Yeah."

* * *

><p><strong>Threw some new terms at you, and hope you caught them.<strong>

**So now both sides have started to prepare for the upcoming war. Some are training for Bankai, others are making their Bankai better, both sides are creating small armies… And of course, there's a "vacation" to Eterna coming up!**

**Aj's comment about missing Mike and not getting to legitimately talk to him was heartbreaking to write. :(**

**I know it took a super-long time to get this chapter out; I joined my school's marching band, which takes up a huge amount of my weekend as well as time every day, but it's super fun too, believe it or not. Lately I've gone through a sort of depression, too, which didn't particularly help this chapter along. If anything, though, it could help my next Novas chapter along, so that the next EOAD chapter can come out sooner… By Aj's and Mike's birthdays, maybe?**

**See you then.**


	21. Vindica and Nemesial

**Chapter 21... Dang that was fast :D :D :D**

**Chapters 1 through 10 have been edited, as well. No gigantic, you-must-read-this-to-ever-understand-this-story-ever-again changes, but you could always check it out to see the improvements. Especially chapter one.**

**~Happy birthday to youuu~**

**Mike's and Aj's birthdays are here again. Happy (insert number here)th, guys.**

**And without further ado, the chapter.**

* * *

><p>They arrived in Eterna City two days later, at night. By this time, Cynthia and the others had been dead for a week. Also, Mike's wing was so close to healed, he could argue for going to Eterna without sounding like a nutcase.<p>

"But you're still a nutcase."

"Shut up, Ashley."

When they got there, though, they waited another night to "visit" Syzygy. It was more time for Mike's wing to heal, plus Ashley wanted to visit a friend in the morning.

She walked up the steps to a house on the far end of town and knocked on the door.

Inside, she heard a few quick, light thuds. The door swung mysteriously open to an empty room.

"Well, that's creepy," Ashley remarked.

A small yellow pokemon sprung off the door – he must have been clinging to the doorknob to open it. "Hi!" the pikachu said brightly.

"Hey, haven't seen you in a while," she greeted him. "Is Axel home?"

"He is." A teenaged boy with dark blue hair and bright blue eyes came into view, rubbing his head. "Niko, you didn't have to headbutt me to get the door."

"What are you talking about?" Niko asked, wide-eyed.

"Thought I wouldn't see you til the next time I visited the Frontier," Axel said to Ashley, ignoring the pikachu's puppy eyes.

"Well, that Tower Tycoon spot you like so much is open. Maybe you'd visit more if you took it," Ashley suggested.

Axel frowned. "Open? Palmer retired?"

"Where have you _been_? Syzygy's killed Leaders and Frontier Brains. The position is open because Palmer is _dead._ You haven't been watching the news? Candice put in an ad about trainers joining forces almost a week ago," Ashley told him, shocked.

Axel rubbed his head sheepishly. "I've been watching Yu-gi-oh…"

"Big surprise there," Ashley sighed, shaking her head. "So what's up around here?"

He shrugged. "Not much at all. The most interesting thing is me buying blueberries yesterday."

Ashley blinked. "Blueberries?"

"Yeah." Indicating for Ashley to follow him, Axel walked down a hall into the kitchen. "They're fresh, too," he mentioned, popping a blueberry from a bowl on the counter into his mouth.

"Blueberries have kryptonite in them."

Axel laughed until he realized Ashley was serious. "Wait, really?"

"Yup. Very bad for Superman."

Axel scrutinized a blueberry before eating it, too. "I'd figure I'm safe. Want one?"

"Nah."

Axel jumped backwards to sit on the counter. "So. Learned Lynch Bankai yet?"

"Nope," Ashley replied, "It's really annoying. Aj and Kyle and Mike all have Bankai. I'm the only one without it."

Axel gave her a long stare. "Sounds like it's more than annoying," he pointed out.

She sighed. "Yeah. Annoying is a mild, you-get-the-gist-of-it description."

"Do you know…" Axel shook his head. "No, if you knew what activates yours, you'd already have reached Bankai."

"I used up all my mental analysis abilities in regaining my eyes," Ashley claimed.

"You did not. And anyways, it'll come to you in time," he reassured her.

Ashley made a _pfft_ noise. "And if that time is after Syzygy's got me dead –"

"I think it'll come before then." Axel grinned. "You Lynches have cool Bankais. Aethereans like me just have flat-out Bankai. There's a final Bankai, sometimes, but normally there's nothing more. You guys get vindica and nemesial in addition to a regular power-up –"

"Nemesial?" Ashley interrupted.

"Hm? Yeah…"

"What's that?"

"I dunno. Read the words somewhere. It didn't describe vindica or nemesial."

"Oh," Ashley said, a little disappointed. "Aethereans have vindica, actually; there's just no name for it," Ashley mentioned.

"Cool. So you have no idea what a nemesial is?" Axel wondered.

"I'd never heard the word before you said it just now," Ashley confirmed.

"Huh. You'll find it sometime," Axel waved it off.

"Mm." Ashley looked at the clock. "D*mn… I need to go back now. We're heading for Eterna at 11."

"You're in Eterna," Axel informed her, puzzled.

"Oh – sorry, we've been referring to the headquarters as 'Eterna' for so long it's become second nature to call it that," Ashley explained cheerfully.

Axel shrugged. "Fair enough. Oh, and don't forget to check out my Fan –"

"Okay, bye," Ashley said, getting up.

"What? Why does everyone do this when I mention my Fanservi –"

"Hiii-yah!" Niko yelled, leaping off a shelf. A bolt of electricity zoomed from him to Axel.

"YEEEOOOOOOOOOOWW!" Axel shouted, leaping up. Bits of blue hair stuck out in all directions. "NIKO!"

Ashley left before things got big.

* * *

><p>At exactly 10:50 am, twenty-four pokemon were deposited in the PC. The four Lynches had decided not to risk their pokeballs being taken from them under any circumstance.<p>

"Are we flying or walking?" Aj wanted to know.

"The faster the better, since it's twenty miles away," Kyle pointed out. "Mike and Ashley, if you guys could fly we'd get there pretty fast."

"Uh… I'm not sure I can carry one of you," Ashley said slowly.

"I'll be teleporting with Aj," Kyle explained. "Just a mile or two a minute."

Ashley shook off the little tendrils of jealousy. Hey, Mike was her friend too.

They set out at 11 am. Ashley and Mike left the other two Lynches behind.

It had been a long while since the last time Ashley had flown with her own wings – maybe around a month ago. And even that had been for training, so there hadn't been time to fly for fun. The sky view of Eterna Forest was lovely – pines, oaks, and a million trees Ashley couldn't identify spread out in every direction. The day was damp and moist, and fog hung between the treetops like a gauzy veil of spiderwebs. Clouds blanketed the sky overhead, blocking the sun. It was the sort of weather that would be gloomy all day, but never rain.

The two winged Lynches flew in silence for a while, enjoying the cool air and the bird's-eye-view of the forest. But a nagging thought kept returning to Ashley, and eventually she addressed it.

"Mike?"

"Hm?" He turned his head.

"What's a nemesial?"

"What's a what?" Mike tilted his ear towards her like he'd heard wrong.

"What's a nemeisal?" she repeated.

Mike frowned – apparently he hadn't heard wrong. "Um… I dunno, what is it?"

"I'm asking you." Ashley shrugged. "Axel mentioned it, but he didn't know what it was. Just that it's got something to do with Lynch Bankai."

Mike thought it over. "I've never heard of it. We could ask Aj and Kyle once we're at the HQ."

They flew without talking for a few minutes longer.

"It's been a while since the last time I flew on these wings," Ashley mentioned.

"Me too," agreed Mike. "Between Syzygy and being a Champion, there's not enough time."

"I can't wait for this thing with Syzygy to be over," Ashley said.

"No, don't say that."

"Why?" Ashley wondered, surprised.

"Because then you're not taking them seriously. The end of this conflict is just as likely going to be our own deaths as it is their eradication," Mike reminded her.

Ashley let this sink in. "Sure, but I still wish we didn't have to deal with this anymore."

"We also don't have to deal with this if we're dead."

"You wouldn't be dead," Ashley pointed out.

"Three of my best friends would be brain dead, heart dead, and just plain dead, and I wouldn't even have wings to try and boost my spirits by flying afterwards."

"Iro said Aj would get an artificial heart."

Mike snorted. "Iro also said 'sorry, Syzygy told me to murder six of the most powerful trainers in Sinnoh, so I had to.' He's way under their influence for some reason, and I really don't think Syzygy is going to waste time sticking a fake heart in Aj, regardless of what Iro thinks."

Ashley had run out of counterarguments. "All right, you win. So what should I say now, that I hope Syzygy will be gone someday?"

Mike didn't catch the sarcasm. "That's about right," he nodded.

In just a few minutes, Mike's internal birdie radar decided they were finally at the spot. Swerving down around the branches of trees, the duo landed by a large, vine-covered rock.

"Where're Kyle and Aj?"

Mike looked around. "Probably be here soon."

Perhaps twenty seconds later, the air five feet to their left shimmered. A soft glow materialized into Aj and Kyle. As the psychic glow faded, Kyle took his hand off of Aj's shoulder. Ashley averted her eyes – she knew physical contact was necessary for teleportation, but it still felt a little weird.

"Ashley mentioned something on the way over. It's a word that's related to Lynch Bankai, but none of us know what it means," Mike informed them. "Something like new measles –"

"Nemesial," Ashley cut in. "Axel mentioned it. He doesn't know what it is either."

"It's a bad thing," Aj commented.

All eyes turned to her. "You know what it is?" Mike said in amazement.

"No, but it sounds like the word nemesis, and those are bad," Aj reasoned.

"You've got a point," Kyle agreed.

"Great, so there's a mysterious aspect of Bankat that's most likely something to do with a nemesis – an _enemy_ – and we're about to risk our lives while still having no clue what it is," Mike said somewhat bitterly.

"Don't be a pessimist. It'll be no trouble," Aj reassured him.

"So this is it?" Kyle asked, gesturing at the rock.

"The _rock_?" Ashley said in surprise.

"Yeah. People have been through here," Kyle confirmed.

It took them a few minutes, but soon Aj came upon the door hidden in the boulder's surface. They found themselves facing a steep, dark staircase leading down. The Lynches stood in silence for a bit.

The small corridor almost gave off an air of fear. Ash, Dawn, and Kevin hadn't stayed behind for nothing; this was danger. Real, life-threatening danger that they were willingly throwing themselves into. Danger that even six powerful trainers couldn't handle…

"But we're Lynches," Aj murmured, answering the silent question. "We stand a chance."

Mike finally found the courage to go in. Aj headed down next, followed by Ashley and Kyle.

At the bottom of the staircase lay a room like an amateur boxing ring. Roped-off squares lay every few feet, raised four feet above the ground, with punching bags hanging in between.

The entire left wall was a glass window.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Mike, running over.

"Energy receptors," Aj recognized them, "They have this many?"

"That we do." It was Toxica. She looked different – paler, perhaps – than the last time they'd seen her. "The glass isn't glass, by the way. It's a composite that's bulletproof, shatterproof, breakproof. Fortunately Mystor can just walk right in if we need anything done in there," she said, nodding towards the window as she strode forward from the door across the room.

"We're here for our friends," Ashley informed her coolly.

"Ah." Immediately, a loud **BANG!** sounded from behind them. They jumped, and soon realized that the entrance to the headquarters was sealed off by a heavy steel door.

"That's similarly unbreakable – although I suppose it's called an alloy instead of a composite, since it's metal," Toxica mentioned. "And pokeballs have been sealed, just to let you know."

"We know," Kyle responded. "We brought none."

"Smart little kids," Toxica said with a smirk. "I appreciate how much you care about your friends, but their bodies were burned a week ago. This _was_ a trap, as you've probably figured out."

"Oh darn," Ashley said solemnly. "Well, aren't we screwed. Oh wait –" She morphed efficiently into her dark form. "We're not."

"I like your way of thinking, but it's Voltwing I'd like to battle," Toxica said, her tone suggesting regret.

"Why me?" Mike frowned.

"I never got the chance before. And unlike Delta, who I have yet to fight as well, you and I would battle on equal terms," Toxica explained.

"Meaning you're afraid of his type advantage?" Mike translated.

Toxica's look grew… well, toxic. "Watch out, kid."

Mike had only enough time to turn electric before she rushed at him and grabbed him by the elbow. With a strength that couldn't have been human, Toxica hurled him into a boxing ring. A crack echoed from Mike's arm when he landed, and he shut his gold eyes tight in pained shock as Toxica leaped into the ring after him.

"Mike, are you – Whoa," Aj blurted out, finding an clear but solid wall blocking her from entering the ring. "Mike!"

"You can't get in, it's an energy shield. Just wait this out. I'll deal with you next, if it makes you feel better," Toxica told her. "Get up, Voltwing."

Mike clutched his left arm as he got to his feet. "Isn't that cheating, breaking my arm before we even start?" Mike asked her.

"That _was _the start. You just weren't fast enough. Life doesn't wait for you to get into a ring; why should I?" Toxica retorted.

Mike looked over to find his friends watching. "Wait for me, okay?" he said in a low voice.

"You just do your thing. We're not going anywhere," Kyle assured him.

_Funny_, Ashley thought. _Mike usually goes for the heroic warrior mindset. That would have been to tell us to keep going without him, wouldn't it? Why didn't he say that?_

Mike began with a thunderpunch. Toxica countered, quick as light, with a poison jab. He struck her head; she jabbed his stomach.

"D*mn, you're one of those untaserable ones," Toxica muttered. "Stomach of steel."

"I prefer wings of lightning," Mike commented, charging a zap cannon. "It's what everyone in Syzygy likes me for."

Toxica deflected the zap cannon into the energy shield around them, dissolving the attack into nothing. "It's what we _target_ you for. There's a difference." She swiped her hand at his shoulder, tearing his sleeve. Ashley noticed her claws for the first time.

"How'd you get claws?"

Toxica held them up. "Vindica. I get claws. And I can also do this." She lashed out her hand again, tearing into Mike's shoulder with claws that inundated with violet energy. Despite being purple, it didn't quite match the color of poison.

"Aargh –" Mike sent a thunderbolt careening her way, but she ducked underneath. "How'd you use dragon claw?"

"Vindica. Seriously, you have almost as bad memory as Smokelius did," Toxica snorted. She slashed at him again, leaving a streak of claw marks across his cheek.

"If you know so much about vindica, then what's mine?" Mike spat back.

Toxica laughed and slashed at his arms. He attempted to counter with thunderpunches, but those didn't do much against Toxica's razor sharp claws. "You've used it before. When you beat J's forces singlehandedly, you used it. You can absorb a whole bunch of energy and then use it all at once."

Mike blinked and smiled grimly. "May as well."

Gray, cloudly flying energy swirled around him for a split second, and suddenly he was in Bankai. Toxica's purple eyes lit up in glee. "Why, thank you!"

Before Mike could do any more than look alarmed, Toxica attacked with a flurry of moves. The flashes of different kinds of energy showed that grass, darkness, bug, and poison were among the elements assaulting Mike. A shot of fear entered Ashley's stomach; Aj was covering her eyes.

When Toxica finally let up, Mike was leaning against the side of the ring, breathing hard. Cuts laced his arms, face, wings, and torso, and his t-shirt was barely holding together. Wiping blood from a deep cut on his forehead out of his eyes, he said, "What the _h*ll_ does my transformation into Bankai have to do with you attacking me like that?"

Toxica was grinning. "It will become clear someday. And anyways, you can't actually absorb any of my attacks. The energy source itself needs to be quite large, like that thunderhead above Hearthome's plateau."

Aj risked a glance through her fingers and hastily covered her eyes again. Mike noticed. Swallowing, he said, "What, you thought I was aiming to absorb your attack energy? Dumb*ss."

The wall of energy momentarily flashed brighter than the sun. Kyle, Ashley, and Toxica were blinded by it. Aj uncovered her eyes to see what had just happened.

Glowing white energy flowed into Mike like water going down a storm drain. It was collecting in his wings, which glowed the same color. Toxica was lashing out blindly, screaming something about what she was going to do to him. Mike turned his head to the side and for a moment, his gold-flecked lavendar eyes met Aj's brown. A grim smile was all he could manage, but Aj got the message.

_I'm all right._

The last of the energy was absorbed, and Mike shot his fist forward. Aj had no idea what kind of energy it was, nor how it transferred through Mike's fist to reach Toxica, but she did know the move's name.

_Epic win._

Toxica fell over the side of the ring, falling on the ground with a loud THUD.

Mike turned back into his normal form and hopped over the side of the ring – by the looks of things, his broken arm was nearly healed already. "For the record," he said softly, "I didn't singlehandedly beat J's forces. Several friends of mine were the ones to weaken J herself, in the first place." He was grinning tiredly.

Aj's vocal chords were having trouble pushing words though her mouth. "That… was really good," she finally squeezed out.

Mike's grin seemed to liven up a little. "Thanks."

"Can you like, _not _blind us next time? A few weeks without sight was bad enough," Ashley grumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"D*mn," a voice sighed. Mike and Aj, who were the only ones who could see, glanced over the fight ring. It was a man with short gray hair and a young face – Mystor. "She just _had_ to tell you about your vindica," he sighed. "At least she didn't tell too much about nemesial, although she was coming close there."

"You guys know what nemesial is?" Aj prompted.

Mystor closed his eyes. "Sure. You can't make me say what it is just by asking, but we do. I'm surprised you don't know, quite frankly." He looked down, presumably at his unconscious colleague. "I suppose you can teleport away if you like. We did cremate the bodies; Toxica wasn't lying. The trainers' pokeballs are still here, though. Might want to fetch those." He picked Toxica up and carried her away, traveling ghostlike through the obstacles blocking his path.

"And at last I seeee the liiiiight," Ashley sang off-key, blinking and focusing her eyes on Aj and Mike.

"Tangled was a good movie, but you sing like a latias," Kyle commented.

Ashley grinned. "Specifically, Sagitta the latias, who broke your windows."

"We should go find the pokeballs," Mike mentioned. "Trap or not, those pokemon shouldn't be kept cooped up anywhere."

"You're about to get blood in your eye," Aj informed him. Mike wiped his forehead again, frowning.

"My arm's already healed. Why isn't everything else?" he wondered.

"It'll heal in a bit. Look, the cuts you got before Toxica went on rampage are gone," Kyle pointed out. Mike checked his shoulder; nothing there. "Also, do you want this?" Kyle pulled off his jacket. "Your shirt is hardly a shirt anymore."

"Your jacket's going to get blood on it," Mike warned him, pulling the remnants of his shirt away. Aj blushed and looked away (^w^). Ashley could still barely see anyways.

"It's all right. I'll wash it once we're out of here," Kyle said seriously.

The message received was, "We're going to make it out of here."

The four Lynches, Mike wearing Kyle's fleece jacket, picked their way through the punching bags and fighting rings to reach the doorway on the other end.

The new room was like the Oreburgh Gym: rocky. Very rocky. Boulders rose from the floor like giant teeth from a shark's jaw, with gravel and pebbles in between. The walls were sheets of rock. Across the room, another door awaited them.

"This is another obstacle, isn't it," Ashley said.

A giggle. "Of course."

A tall, slim girl with long, straight, rust-red hair sauntered through the doorway. A black jacket covered her arms, and tan pants traveled down to expose bare feet. Over her crimson shirt dangled a pendant the color of a fire stone, reddish orange and shimmering with an almost unnatural light. Around her waist sat a wide brown belt with crystals in the same color as her pendant embedded in the leather. The girl's eyes shone reddish brown.

"Long time no see," Fyr greeted them. "Doing well?"

The air behind Ashley shimmered, cutting her off from her friends. Kyle put up his hand to test the barrier – solid. More so than the energy wall Toxica had used. This blockade was energy that had turned to matter; Mike couldn't absorb that.

"You might say that," Ashley responded. "You?"

"Not bad. I see you've got your eyes back."

Ashley smirked. "That I do."

"Bet your aim hasn't gotten any better," Fyr taunted.

"Ha. I'd be more afraid of _your_ aim if you were aiming for the person next to me," Ashley countered.

Fyr narrowed her eyes. "You got that from Harry Potter."

"It's a worthwhile comeback," Ashley shrugged. "One on one, I'm assuming?"

Fyr sighed. "One on four. I'm going to go through all your friends right after I'm done with you. Shame."

Ashley just grinned. "You got _that_ from Toxica."

Fyr smirked. The two girls both wove a swirl of energy around themselves and transformed. Ashley had picked dragon; Fyr was both rock and fire. Her eyebrows rose dramatically. "Well, now. No Bankai yet? Pity I have to slaughter you even worse."

Ashley's brown eyes hardened. "Bring it, rockhead."

The rock-type spread her arms. Circles of pale brown energy swirled around her, compressing themselves into rings. The energy solidified into sharp stones that Fyr then launched straight at Ashley. Ashley blasted a dragon pulse straight back, burning the stones and making them turn back into rock energy, harmless.

"Not bad. Try blocking this one." Fyr did the same as before, but with more energy that collected into three more rings than before. The number of stones doubled, and Ashley's roar-of-time barely annihilated all of the stones before they reached her.

"How about this?"

Fyr increased the energy around her to the point that she nearly disappeared behind it. Rather than condense and then release it, she condensed the energy into several circles and kept them in energy form. With a sideways grin on her face, Fyr remarked, "You know, I'm surprised. Roar of time causes momentary paralysis after it's used. You just made this way too easy for me. I thought you'd be a worthwhile fight." Shaking her head, Fyr lifted the rings of energy over her head and thrust them at Ashley.

Still recovering from the hyperbeam variation, Ashley could only watch anxiously as the rings fell over her as though she was part of a ring-toss carnival game. The rock energy hovered momentarily around her. Suddenly it solidified and closed in on her, binding her arms, wings, and legs in solid rock. Ashley tried to push her arms away from her body, but the rock held firm.

Fyr shot a jet of flame at her opponent. It didn't have a particularly strong effect on the dragon type, but it was enough to send her crashing to the floor. Fyr collected energy into a mass the size of a boulder and hurled it her way. The stone shattered as it flew towards Ashley. When it impacted her, she found the rocks had halfway buried her inside a pile – rock tomb.

Something shone above Ashley's head. Looking up, she found a clump of rock energy hovering over her. The start of a rock slide.

_Oh, crap._

Ashley summoned a dragonbreath to her mouth and launched it quickly at Fyr, but the latter sidestepped it. The rock slide hanging above Ashley's head was growing in size; any moment now it would reach its maximum capacity. As the energy started to turn solid, dull brown, Ashley shut her eyes tight.

_I'm screwed._

Something yanked her shoulder so hard, she felt it pop briefly out of its joint. She found herself flying to the side. Ashley landed on the ground, hard, but could see that the rock slide was now falling where she'd just been. Cascading. Overflowing. Maybe not just falling. It was pretty big. And soon she realized why exactly she wasn't right under that cascading, overflowing, maybe-not-just-falling rock slide.

_Ah, you idiot. You just dragged yourself into this._

Kyle didn't hear her, but she hadn't really been trying to speak to him telepathically, regardless of the fact that he was in psychic form and she could if she wanted to. He unsheathed his sword – oh, never mind, he was in Bankai, not just psychic primary or secondary – and hacked at the stones restraining her. "You okay?" he asked.

She bit her lip and tried not to cry. "Fine. Thanks."

"When I said this was a one-on-four battle, I meant one at a _time_. Two is unfair," Fyr was almost whining.

Kyle glanced at her. "Did you say that? I couldn't hear you. The wall back there acts as a sound barrier."

It was true; Aj and Mike were yelling things that were inaudible to Ashley's ears. Judging by the looks on their faces, though, maybe that was a good thing…

"Whatever. I'll beat you both anyways." Fyr rolled her eyes.

Kyle snapped the last of the rocks off Ashley and helped her up. "You're funny," he said in a voice that was a little* less than amused.

*a lot

Ashley and Kyle simultaneously slashed forward – Ashley using her hand, Kyle using his sword. Fyr rock blasted the spatial rend and delta-focus blast (with Kyle's ∆) in an attempt to cancel them out, but the power overall was strong enough to overcome her counterattacks. "Aargh," Fyr grunted, barely keeping her footing. "Jeez, maybe I'd better use my vindica, if you're going to do that."

A rumble. A hiss. The room glowed red with heat, and from the walls spouted a viscous stream of molten rock. Ashley dove to avoid it, shoving Kyle away in the process.

"This is what you get when you cross a fire type with a rock type," Fyr remarked, grinning. "Magma control. Aboveground, it would be lava." She shrugged. "Not that it matters much when it's going to hurt a lot anyways."

Ashley collected dragon energy in her hands, readying them for dragon pulse. Kyle's sword glowed bronze or pink, depending on your angle of view.

The magma surged forward, splashing itself right at the two Lynches' faces. They both countered the burning rock, Ashley blasting it away with pieces of dragon pulses, Kyle swinging his sword at it like it was a game of tennis. Thankfully, his sword didn't melt; it was probably the psychic and fighting energy surrounding it that helped it.

Ashley spotted something out of the corner of her eye. A trail of red-hot magma had sneaked around them and was flowing towards Kyle, whose back was to it. As though it suddenly realized that it had been spotted, it leaped for the unaware Lynch.

Impulsively, Ashley shot a wave of pink spatial rend at the magma, knocking it back. Kyle realized what had just happened. "Thanks… Look out!"

Ashley's elbow lit up with searing hot pain. She slapped the lava off her arm with her other hand, which burnt as well, though not nearly as badly.

_D*mn_, she swore mentally._ This is exactly why I got worried when I found out I like him. I risked that for him – I probably would just have yelled a warning otherwise._

Kyle was fine. He blasted away another wave of magma using his ∆ to attack.

_Maybe if I had more power, I wouldn't give in to something like that_, Ashley's mind suggested.

It was a trivial hope, and not one with much logic to it, but you tell me the last time you heard the words "logic" and "love" in the same sentence.

As though she had grown bored with playing with the stream of magma, Fyr willed the jagged boulders scattered around the room to melt. Every rush of dragon energy that coursed through Ashley's hands held new meaning. Every violet-blue fireball contained the urge for greater power, for a strength that could overcome any weakness.

At first Ashley thought it was just her dragon instinct pulling through. As it grew stronger, though, she realized it was something more, something greater than just a little elemental effect.

_So that I won't do something dumb for Kyle_, she told herself.

A flash. Not a visible one; one inside her. It was cold and dark and wild, but she recognized these three things and welcomed them. The presence grew and surrounded her in the form of energy. Ice, dark, dragon. Any two are rare in combination, but the three together…

Bankai.

The energy swirled around her, and she felt pieces of her change – lighter wings, heavier hands. Then the energy flooded into her – Ashley closed her eyes and let it in.

As the rush of transformation died away, a sudden calm took its place. Fyr had stopped launching balls of molten rock and was watching her enemy gain power with a horrified, fascinated look on her face. Kyle watched, too, but his dark brown eyes glistened in pride.

Wings that were black, but covered in an thin, icy crystal coating joined to the back of Ashley's shoulder blades. She opened her eyes: her irises had become frosty blue, with darker flecks scattered throughout them. Smiling, she spoke a single sentence.

"I can't see a d*mn thing."

Fyr unfroze. "Well, good. Cause here comes more."

Fyr created a stone edge that formed rocks, then melted into magma, Thrusting her arms forward, she launched them at Ashley. Kyle stepped forward to defend his newly (re-newly?) sightless friend, but a blast of dragon energy met the move head-on first. Surprised, Kyle turned around.

"I can sort of see," Ashley explained. "But only enough to know that you're over there, and you're facing me, and Fyr just sent a bunch of fireballs our way. It's blurry is all."

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Fyr asked.

Ashley swiveled to face Fyr. In the five seconds it had taken Kyle to hear what Ashley meant, the rock-fire Lynch had rushed forward. Now, she rammed her flame-covered fist into Ashley's chest. The latter quickly froze the spot with ice so that her shirt wouldn't end up like Mike's, and then night slashed Fyr in retaliation. Kyle noticed at this point that harsh white weavile claws had taken the place of her hands, making the nightslash yet stronger.

The gems on Fyr's belt and necklace shone bright and shot energy at Ashley – Kyle guessed this was power gem. In return, Ashley conjured a mixture of dragon, dark, and ice energy and thrust it forward as a single attack. It swept straight through Fyr's power gem and shot at Fyr herself. The Syzygy Lynch was thrown back, smashing into a stone that still jut out from the floor. Fyr summoned a whirlwind of rock energy around her…

Suddenly she gasped. The energy flowing around her shot in every direction, blowing away the boy who'd just impaled her shoulder from behind.

Kyle winced as Fyr collapsed. "I hope she's okay."

Ashley stared blankly at him. A few seconds later, she decided it would be easier to stare blankly at him if she could actually _see a d*mn thing_, so she reverted back to normal form. Her eyes were brown again.

"You just ran someone through, and now you're asking if they're _all right?_" Ashley pointed out incredulously.

Kyle shrugged sheepishly. "Yeah."

Shaking her head, Ashley strode over and gingerly lifted the new slit in Fyr's jacket. "She's fine," Ashley let him know, examining the wound. "She's healing like a Lynch."

"What's that about healing like a Lynch?"

Mike and Aj were coming their way; it seemed the wall had dispersed when Fyr fainted. To the surprise of both Ashley and Kyle, Mike was still covered in blood and bleeding from the cuts all over him. Ashley checked her elbow; the burn was gone.

"Why aren't you healed?" Kyle wondered, frowning.

"You're asking me?" Mike muttered. "Let's find the pokeballs and go home."

The four traversed through the next doorway.

The room was fairly tall and very, very wide. Its floor was tiled in alternating squares of black and white, and the walls were beige. A vault sat across the room from them, locked with a keypad.

"Tall enough to fly in, mysteriously empty, and the last room to get through before finding the pokeballs, like a boss level," Aj listed. "I'm guessing Iro."

"You're guessing right." A cheerful boy with glasses, green and silver hair, bug wings, and a sort of steel rifle flew into view. "Long time no see, Aj Ferra," Iro greeted her. "Bankai coming along well?"

"Oh, yes. Want to see?" Aj asked lightly.

Iro grinned. "By all means, come forward."

Aj morphed into a form with silvery blue hair, copper skin, and eyes like sunlight on water. She took a step. Her foot hit a white tile, and suddenly it fell out from underneath her. Shouting in surprise, Aj managed to grab hold of the surrounding floor just before she fell through. "Aargh – that was dirty," she scoffed.

Iro was laughing. "You know, the word 'gullible' is written on the floor." He pointed up at the ceiling.

"If you say 'green beans' really slowly, it sounds like the word gullible'," Aj countered.

" 'Gullible' isn't in the dictionary."

"Oh come on. Everyone's heard that one." Aj's eyes flickered to the area Iro was hovering over. "Oh, uh, you dropped your glasses."

Iro looked down and then realized that his glasses were still on his face. "Aw, frack."

"Who's laughing now?" Aj snickered, pulling herself out of the hole in the floor.

"Me," Iro said simply. He hefted the gun and aimed it at her.

"Oh crap." She dove to the side. A spear of brilliant orange fighting energy rocketed at the spot where Aj'd just been standing, cracking a floor tile with a loud **snap**!

Iro leveled the gun at Mike, Ashley, and Kyle, who were still standing in the doorway. They scattered from the grass green arrow. Kyle found himself on a tile that sank down an inch and gave a click. He realized what had happened and jumped aside as toxic purple fumes rose up from the old tile.

"Don't tell me this is a room full of traps," Kyle groaned. "That's such a kiddie thing to do."

"Just be glad that wasn't knockout gas," Iro warned, blasting a white projectile of normal-type energy at Kyle, who ducked. "I killed six humans with this rifle; I can easily main four Lynches. Especially since I can load energy into this faster than before."

"_That's_ how you killed them?" Mike said in wonder.

"Although the only one of you I'm not supposed to kill is Aj," Iro went on, ignoring Mike, "since we need her heart intact. Actually, if I went for her head…"

"Mike, wings," Ashley said brusquely.

Mike understood, and the two Lynches morphed: Mike into flying, Ashley into Bankai. Each spread their wings and thrust them downward, propelling their bodies away from the booby-trapped floor.

"Cheaters." Iro launched a bolt of electricity at Mike. The latter shot upward, letting the spear hurtle past his foot. Too late, Mike realized Iro had fired a second shot – this one pale grey – just after the first.

"AARGH!" Mike was sent spinning towards the floor, a rip in his wing in addition to all his previous injuries.

Thrusting a quick magnet bomb at Iro, Aj dashed toward Mike. She paid no heed to the trapped tiles – as she ran across them, a blade fell from the ceiling onto one and another burst into flames.

"You got Mike?" Kyle shouted, launching his Bankai's ∆ at Iro in a psybeam.

"Yeah! Ashley, get the pokeballs!" Aj yelled back.

"Nuh-uh," Iro defied them, training his rifle on Ashley. Kyle's sword appeared to grow – fighting energy became his extension in the move called secret sword – and he slashed at Iro, cutting the Lynch's wrist and throwing his aim completely off. Ashley flapped her icy wings and reached the safe on the far side of the room.

The keypad contained dozens of tiny buttons that Ashley could barely make out in her blind Bankai. Above the keys lay a screen that was immensely long. The safe itself was bolted to the floor.

"Mike, Kyle, I can't figure this out," Ashley shouted hurriedly.

Wincing, Mike got to his feet with Aj's help. Withdrawing his wings, Mike brought out his electric form. He started to run across the trapped floor. Spikes shot up through a tile just after he ran over it.

"Mike, surf!" Aj raised her arms to her sides, accumulating a mass of water energy behind her. She let it materialize into a wave of water and swept it toward Mike.

Mike, who was most definitely not a water type, did his best to stay on his feet as the surf pushed him fluidly over the tiled floor. He stumbled throughout the trip and eventually topped forward just before reaching Ashley.

"You all right?" Ashley checked.

There was a crash – Kyle was locked in combat with Iro, secret sword versus elemental rifle. Iro's hot pink psychic spear grazed the side of Kyle's face. Oddly, Aj shimmered briefly out of view, then refocused.

Mike looked over the lock for a moment, then held out his hand. He electrocuted the keypad, overloading it and allowing the door to swing open. Six cases of pokeballs were stacked inside.

"Jackpot," Mike declared, taking three.

Aj was surfing their way to see if they needed any help. The water transport was for some reason smaller than it had been for Mike. Iro's arrow found its mark: Kyle's knee. Shouting in pain, Kyle barely remained standing. Aj shimmered again and stumbled, her surf's power destroyed. She seemed surprised.

"What was that?" she voiced.

Iro looked confused, then his face cleared up. Not once did his eyes divert from Kyle, whose knee was turning the leg of his jeans dark red. "Don't know your nemesial yet? Guess now you've found it."

Aj's eyes flashed as she glanced up at him. "So that's my nemesial?" she said carefully, being sure not to reveal her actual knowledge of nemesials (also known as 0.0001).

"Yeah. You lost power when an ally was hurt," Iro agreed.

Aj glanced at Ashley and Mike; Iro didn't see this. "Ashley's nemesial is that she's nearly blind in Bankai. Mike's is that any injuries he gets while in Bankai will heal at a human rate, and not the rate that Lynches usually heal at."

"Aj," Ashley warned.

Iro shrugged. "Sounds about right."

"I can't figure out a way to describe nemesial itself, though," Aj sighed. "The words just won't come to me."

Iro's mouth twitched into a grin. "No? It's just a weakness. It lowers the convenience of Bankai; it's Bankai's nemesis. vindica justifies it in return; to vindicate is to avenge, in Latin. It avenges your weakness."

Aj grinned. "Thanks. I never did have the words to describe it."

"Anytime." Iro blasted flying energy at Kyle, who barely avoided it.

"Aj," Ashley said abruptly, "take these. I'm going to help Kyle," she said, handing her three cases of pokeballs to Aj. Without another word, Ashley took off into the air.

Iro was preoccupied with deflecting Kyle's secret sword and didn't notice the ice punch heading his way. Grunting in surprise, Iro swiveled in midair and slashed with one hand, half an x-scissor. Ashley and Aj both yelled exclamations of shock (Ashley's was "Ow!" and Aj's was M rated), though a gash appeared only on Ashley's arm. Iro struck again, this time with a steel wing that sent Ashley careening away from him.

Kyle was making an attempt to charge a focus blast, though it was massively failing due to the distraction of the pain in his knee. Iro sank two feet to avoid the missile when it finally flew his way. The Syzygy Lynch then collected metal energy right in front of his head and blasted Kyle with a flash cannon that sent the latter skidding ten feet away.

The square beneath Kyle clicked.

Sparks coursed through Kyle's body, completely paralyzing him. He dropped to his knees, his muscles unable to keep him standing.

Ashley retaliated at Iro, slashing with a combination of nightslash and dragon claw. He growled like a feral cat and swung the butt of his rifle into Ashley's head. Aj was feeling the effects of her friends' pain to the extent that Mike now had her supported on his shoulder. Iro lashed out with a meteor mash that pitched Ashley into the floor, right near Kyle. Ashley felt a ghost-type missile tear through her side, spiking her abdomen with hot pain.

Holding her side carefully with her sharp claws, Ashley's blurry vision noticed that Iro was pointing something long and narrow at Kyle. Lavender energy spiraled into it and then shot out as something sharp and strong, zooming right at the immobilized boy beside her.

Quick as a flash, Ashley sprung to her feet and planted herself in the way of Iro's javelin of energy. She just… couldn't let it happen.

_Well… even the strongest hearts can only take so much._

The spike of flying energy struck her in the center of her chest. Ashley was thrown to the ground.

Across the room, Mike froze. Aj had been breathing hard, but now she had gasped and held her breath, as though doing so would reverse the events of the last three seconds. Head spinning, Mike stared at the limp figure on the floor, and then at the horrified Lynch kneeling nearby.

"Not… no…" he muttered.

"Score two for Syzygy. Eyes of a dragon and dark's brightest light," Iro said curtly.

"You… wish."

Gasping for air like she'd just had the wind knocked out of her, Ashley sat up. Her blue and black eyes looked a bit confused, but also indignant and rough. Iro (and everyone else, for that matter) stared in shock.

"But… I just shot you… You should be dead!" he spluttered.

"Don't get hung up on that. I need to get back at you for trying to kill my friend," Ashley warned him.

She streaked upward and smashed into him with dragon rush. He flinched and Ashley swiped at him with a dual chop from her claws. Iro fired a bullet of fighting energy at her – the bright orange energy smashed into her chest and knocked her back several yards, but didn't cut through her like another arrow had done to her midriff.

"Why won't you _die?_" Iro whined like a kid whose video game was malfunctioning.

"What? It's just my vindica," Ashley faked. It didn't take her long to realize that it was actually true.

"Argh... I'll just have to fight you the regular way, then," Iro decided, sticking his rifle into a holster behind his back.

Flashes of elemental energy aside, it was a regular fistfight. They ducked and jabbed and dodged like boxers would do in a ring, although they were in the air and not nearly as restricted as boxers. A meteor mash nicked Ashley's shoulder; a dragon claw etched three lines into Iro's cheek. Ashley feinted right and suddenly used an ice beam to freeze his wings. Unable to keep flying because of the weight, Iro dropped from the sky, crashing hard into the ground ten feet below.

Ashley swooped down for the verdict. "Unconscious. He's fine," she added for Kyle's benefit.

"So _how_ come you didn't die?" Aj asked. She and Mike limped toward them, looking like they'd just been in a car crash. Aj's face was gray and she was leaning on Mike to stay standing, while Mike was still covered in the cuts from Toxica. Lines of blood leaked through the jacket Kyle'd lent him.

"It's my vindica. My chest can't be pierced," Ashley informed her, morphing back to normal form. She clutched her side with her softer hands, now that her claws were gone.

Turning to Kyle, she looked him over. The many gashes and bruises from his fight with Iro were barely beginning to heal, but his knee was going to take a bit more time than those. "Nice one. You okay?" she asked him.

"Sure… and… also... you're… crazy," Kyle struggled to say. The paralysis still had him.

She saluted. "That sounds about right."

Kyle made a small, tired smile. Bankai or not, some people just wouldn't change.

* * *

><p><strong>So here's my end of chapter rant:<strong>

**Fanservice - It's what Axel Nightblazer calls his stories. Go check them out sometime; they're pretty cool.**

**The part with Mike leaning in to hear what Ashley said better... ohh... I had to put it in because it meant a lot to me when someone else did it, and they don't anymore.**

**I tried tasering this friend of mine once. lol. It makes me laugh whenever I remember it. Untaserable.**

**You can blame the brutality of the fight on Novas are Shattered Stars; I'm more technical with details in that one, and the fights are more realistic. Go read it? *shot***

**Blueberries do have kryptonite.**

**Aj's word skills were a huge asset to our science team when it still existed. I remember this one question that was something to do with math and none of us had ever heard the words before, and then Aj buzzed in and got the answer ("Z: subtrahends") right because it sounded like subtraction and the question mentioned something about minuses... sheesh. That was extreme.**

**And finally, the bit about gullibility came from my friend who constantly is like "Hey, you dropped your glasses" (points upward).**

**Whew! Got through that! See you next chapter!**


	22. What Aj Knew All Along

**~ Happy birthday to me ~**

**Just kidding. Sort of. My birthday's around now. Just not today. _Maybe_ not today.**

**But hey, here's chapter 22.**

* * *

><p>"Faster!" Ashley yelled, mimicking the tone of a three-year-old kid in a grocery cart.<p>

"What am I, a ponyta?" Sagitta yelled back. The latias didn't spend any more air talking; she was busy trying to fly fast.

"Yeah, Aquila ~" cheered Kyle, who was riding his own pokemon. Aquila was gaining on Sagitta and Ashley.

"I know you can fly faster," Ashley called to Sagitta.

"I know! And I've had more practice too," Sagitta shouted back grumpily.

Fortunately for them, Kyle and his latios were only as close as the level of Sagitta's wingtips when all four zoomed past the Battle Tower – the finish line.

"Aw, man," Kyle laughed as they all slowed down.

"This wouldn't have happened if I got racing practice regularly, too," Aquila pointed out.

"Sagitta only gets racing practice case I have wings," Ashley informed the latios.

"So grow wings," Aquila told Kyle, looking over his shoulder.

"I have wings. They're just invisible," Kyle claimed.

Aquila vanished from beneath Kyle, letting the teen fall several yards. A second later, Aquila reappeared just below, in time to catch Kyle. "Your wings work so well," the latios complimented sarcastically.

Kyle had this stunned look on his face. "Aah... Yeah, thanks," he responded, eyes still wide from the shock of spontaneous free fall.

Ashley was laughing. "Hey! What's so funny?" Kyle wondered suspiciously.

"Your face," she choked out. Sagitta, too, was trying not to laugh.

"What's so funny about my face?" Kyle said, sounding offended.

Calming down, Ashley backtracked. "Your expression. Your face is–" She caught herself before giving an inadvertent compliment. "–fine."

Kyle made another weird face and suddenly yelled, "Race you to the Battle Hall! Readysetgo!"

After they had raced around every place they could think of, Kyle suggested a leisure fly to Sunyshore City.

"So why the sudden urge to go flying?" Ashley asked him. Aquila and Sagitta were still giddy on speed from the last race.

Kyle opened his mouth, closed it, and eventually said, "I wanted to do something like this one more time, just in case."

"Bucket list?" Ashley guessed.

He grinned. "Maybe... well, only kind of. If either of us dies in the battle with Syzygy, a lot of the things won't ever be done."

Ashley thought about it. "I guess I don't have a bucket list."

"You don't need one. If you don't have a bucket list, then you've probably done everything you really wanted to do," Kyle explained.

"Oh... Well, that or I just haven't consciously thought of the things," Ashley said.

A moment later, Sagitta snorted. "How about we all just _don't die._"

That would be even better," Kyle laughed.

"So what's on your list?" Ashley asked.

Kyle flinched, as though someone had swiped a hand in front of his face. "Well... Some things I can't do by tomorrow, like building a computer with a certain amount of RAM." Always the computer nerd. "And then there's going flying with our little latii friends, which was only added one or two days ago."

"We have ears," Aquila informed him.

Kyle flicked Aquila's feathery ear. "I know."

"Anything else?" Ashley prompted.

Kyle hesitated. "Yeah..."

A few more seconds went by. "You don't want to tell me, huh?" Ashley realized.

"It's more like I can't..." Kyle trailed off sheepishly.

"That's okay," Ashley informed him.

"Kyle has deep dark secrets," Aquila informed the others gravely.

Sagitta laughed. "But he's a psychic type."

"Therefore I do not have deep dark secrets," Kyle argued.

"Dark is a weird word to use, anyways," Ashley, a dark type, said casually.

Kyle understood this. "Aquila, you've just insulted Ashley. Say you're sorry."

Aquila shot him a withering glance. "I'm not four." To Ashley he said, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"I know. That's all right."

"Kyle has deep and _deadly_ secrets," Aquila corrected.

Kyle whacked him upside the head just as they entered Sunyshore City.

"What time is it?" Ashley wanted to know.

Kyle checked his watch. "About three pm. Want to get something to drink? There's a café down there that's really nice."

"Sure."

* * *

><p>"How can humans <em>stand<em> this?" Mike wanted to know.

"Well, for one thing, they don't get hurt as often as you do," Aj informed him, securing the bandages around his wrist. She was fixing up his wounds again in the hallway of the Battle Arcade – well, the wounds on his arms and face. Those on his torso she hadn't offered to treat. "They don't wait for one thing to heal, and then immediately get another thing to worry about, and then another."

"Yeah, but if a wound was bad enough, they'd be out of commission for _days_," Mike pointed out.

"You're only 'out of commission' cause you need to heal as fast as freaking possible by tomorrow," Aj informed him cheerfully. "If you'd been in Bankai when Iro shot your wing through, you wouldn't even be fighting."

"I think my wings heal a little faster than everything else," Mike mentioned. "The bone broke, but it was mostly mended by the time we went to Eterna."

"Good thing too, since you and Ashley had to fly there."

Mike turned pensive at this. "Something wrong?" Aj wondered, picking up a potion and holding it up to Mike's forehead.

"Nah, I just –" Mike winced at the sudden medicinal sting. "–just wish I could fly one last time, but with all the bed rest–"

"Shut up."

Mike shut up, but only out of surprise. "What?"

"Shut up," Aj repeated firmly. "It's not your last chance to fly. You'll fly again during and after the battle."

"But if–"

"I said shut _up!_ Shut up about how we're all not gonna make it, we're gonna die, death, death, death. We're all getting depressed, you included."

"But it's tru–"

"No, it's not," Aj interrupted dogmatically.

"Yeah it–"

Aj tossed the empty potion bottle aside and pushed the palms of her hands into Mike's shoulders. Mike was knocked back, pinned against the wall by a stubborn Lynch. "We. Are. Going. To. Live," she told him sternly.

Tired brown eyes met hers. "Are we really?" Mike whispered.

Aj nodded solemnly and released his shoulders. Picking up an adhesive bandage, she plastered it over the cut on his forehead, saying, "That's gonna make a pretty nasty scar," as though nothing had ever happened.

* * *

><p>Ash sat morosely in front of the PC. Pikachu, who was hungry, was jumping around the zoned-out trainer.<p>

"Pika!"

"Pi!"

"Pikapi!"

"Peee–ka–chiuuuuu?!"

"Chupi!"

"Chaaa!"

"Biika..."

Pikachu, sighing, chose to use his last resort. Taking a deep breath, Pikachu squealed, "PIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKA PIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKA PIKAPIKAPIKAPIKAPIKA–"

"Pikachu, just shock the poor idiot," Dawn said, walking in.

"Bii," Pikachu protested, pointing to the computer.

Dawn understood. "Oh. Yeah, better not to overload the PC by accident."

Pikachu's stomach growled loudly. He flopped down on the floor and resigned from trying to catch Ash's attention.

"What're you up to?" Dawn asked the somewhat moody boy.

"Hm?" Ash's thoughts were interrupted. "Oh, hey. I'm trying to figure out who to bring."

Dawn scanned over the PC box Ash was looking through. There were two boxes total with pokemon in trainership with Ash Ketchum. "Who's in the other box?" Dawn wondered, seeing all of the pokemon she knew he had in the first box.

Chuckling lightly, Ash hit an arrow key.

"Whoa," Dawn said, startled by the small army of tauros that popped up.

"Got them in Kanto's safari zone," he said with a grin. "They don't leave Oak's place much, and none of them have really been trained by me."

"Who're you looking for? Any particular qualities?" Dawn asked him as he returned to the previous page.

Ash grimaced. "I'm not actually sure. I'm thinking versatility, but even then I still have to choose between Snivy and Buizel, Swellow and Noctowl, Pignite and Leavanny and Donphan. And playing favorites doesn't accomplish anything; they're all my friends. I don't have favorites."

"You know, you could just go with your old Sinnoan team," Dawn suggested.

"Why, cause you and your pokemon know them?" Ash said glumly.

"No, cause not only can they fight together, but they each have a different strength. Torterra is sturdy defensewise, Infernape's physical attacks are strong–"

"Buizel's got speed, Staraptor has air, Gliscor's a hard attacker and dodger, and Pikachu–"

"Chu." _Is hungry_.

"–has a wide range. They've got it all," Ash declared happily.

"Not quite."

Ash blinked. "What?"

"One of them's missing something."

"Which one? What are they missing?"

Dawn pointed to the hungry pokemon lying on the ground next to her. "Dinner."

* * *

><p><strong>Bang!<strong>

The target shattered. Gritting his teeth, Iro aimed at the next one...

**Bang!**

"We're not trying to obliterate them," Folii warned him warily, watching wooden fragments rain down.

"I know. This thing holds a ton of power, and the energy gets harder to compress," Iro huffed.

"Tone it down a bit. A heart of steel that's scattered all over the ground won't do us any good."

Iro shuddered. "That's revolting."

"Work with it, metalbug."

"Ha ha. Any word on the receivers?"

"Should be ready by tomorrow afternoon. They won't know what hit them."

Iro nodded. "And I've been meaning to ask someone, why do we need Ferra for the heart of steel? We've got me, and my heart of steel is still beating."

Folii smirked. "Got a thing for her, do ya?"

Iro shifted uneasily. "Just... Just answer the question," he snapped.

Laughing, Folii replied, "She's Lynch born. You're an artificial Lynch; your heart was once human. It still remembers being human, while hers can not."

Iro sighed. "Can we at least not kill her? Just hold her hostage?"

"For you, maybe."

The metalbug perked up. "Cool. Syzygy's equality thing has its perks."

"Duh. It's why we're called Syzygy. All our admins have essentially the same authority–"

"–meaning the command is aligned, like an astronomical syzygy," Iro said boredly. "Heard that before. Go plant some flowers or something."

Folii snorted. "I'm gonna go check on Fyr's lava control."

"Magma. She's very sensitive about that," Iro mentioned.

"Sure."

Iro shot another energy bullet. This one pierced the center of the target.

"Right through his heart," Iro muttered.

* * *

><p>The mood that night was anxious. Smiles were too big, laughter too forced, and eventually they gave up trying.<p>

"I'm going to bed," Mike finally announced.

"It's nine. I thought you usually sleep at 12," Aj remarked.

"Or was that just when you were in sixth grade?" Ashley wondered.

"I'm just tired. And I want to be ready tomorrow morning," Mike said.

"Good night," Kyle called.

"Good night, guys," Mike replied, leaving the room.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow?" Aj asked.

Kyle leaned back on the sofa and ran a hand through his short hair. "We'll be in the battle part time, but the four of us – maybe more – are special ops. The League and the Frontier will be contacting us if there's a problem."

"I'm keeping my pokemon in battle the whole time," Ashley mentioned. "Whether or not I'm there."

"Seriously?" Kyle seemed surprised.

Ashley nodded and closed her eyes, lying back on the couch. "Sin-ceriously. They've battled independently before. And I think they're set to work with the pokemon without trainers."

She meant the ones retrieved from Syzygy's Eterna HQ. "Not even one, just in case?" Aj said.

Ashley opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow. "That's favoritism."

"Not really."

"If someone gets your feet covered, you're screwed without a pokemon," Kyle told her.

"I've been planning to keep Luoir with me," Aj mentioned. "She knows aura communication, so I can reach her easily."

"Same with me and Apade," Kyle agreed, "but with psychic connection. I'm taking him."

"So, you're saying I should take Sagitta, then?" Ashley questioned.

Kyle hesitated, but shook his head. "She and Aquila are too intimidating in battle to waste."

Ashley thought about it, meanwhile picking up a pillow and hugging it. "Infade," she said suddenly.

"What about the infernape?" Aj prompted.

"I'll take her... I dunno. It makes sense." Ashley shrugged.

"I thought you weren't just picking favorites," Aj pointed out.

Ashley tried to dopeslap her but missed. "Infade covers two of my weaknesses, bug and ice. And I cover three of hers, ground and flying and psychic."

"You could just go multitype Bankai and cancel out some of those weaknesses," Aj pointed out.

"Yeah, but I won't be in Bankai all the time. I'm legally blind in it, remember?" Ashley reminded her.

"Infade is a good pick," Kyle commented. "You guys are a dynamic pair."

Ashley closed her eyes again. "Infade it is."

Aj smirked a little at Ashley's willingness to agree to Kyle's ideas, but didn't say anything for once.

"I'm gonna go see if Mike has a reserve pokemon in mind," Kyle decided, getting up. "Good night."

" 'Night," Ashley yawned.

Once he was out of earshot, Aj finally spoke. "You have fallen _so_ hard for him."

Ashley grinned. "Using big girl lingo for it, huh?"

"Well?"

Ashley shrugged, still hugging a pillow. "I'm okay with it as long as it doesn't get in my way. So far it's mostly worked out all right."

"Mostly?"

"You saw me take that bullet for him," Ashley sighed.

"Oh, that. You got lucky beyond belief that your vindica makes you iron man," Aj said seriously.

"Not really. I got shot in the side while in Bankai, and that one bled," Ashley recalled.

"I know. I could feel that too," Aj groaned. "Stupid nemesial."

"But then, you know what it is and you know how to avoid it. With Kyle, we don't know either of those," Ashley mentioned.

Aj snickered. "Back to Kyle. 'Oh no, gotta protect him'..."

"And how about you and Mike?" Ashley retorted. Kyle could protect himself fine.

Aj shot a furtive glance around the Battle Castle's empty sitting room. "I dunno. I know _I'm_ sure doing dumb things for him. Or at least acting dumb in general."

"You'll get the hang of it," Ashley reassured her friend. "If you tell yourself he's just another friend, it'll be easier to be around him."

"This from the oh-so-wise Ashley Eon, who has years and years – no, _eons_ – of experience with this kind of thing," Aj said sarcastically.

"Hey, it works for me."

"That I can believe." Aj got up and grinned a slightly evil grin. "It's worked for you since months and months ago, when you first got a thing for Kyle."

The Arcade Star bounded out of room, leaving just one Lynch inside. Putting aside the pillow, Ashley decided to go to bed like her friends.

After all, tomorrow was a big big day.

* * *

><p><em>You too?<em>

Aquila jumped; even he hadn't expected that. _Me too what?_

Sagitta appeared in the shadows of the pine tree's branches. _You can't sleep too. Either. Something like that._

Aquila shook his head. _Too... excited, I think._

_You don't sound too excited_, Sagitta let him know. _More like nervous._

Aquila pondered this. _Is that what it is?_

_Looks like it. Don't worry, everybody else is too. You're not the only one_, Sagitta said.

_Are you?_ Aquila observed the cheerful latias.

_Yep_, Sagitta replied frankly.

_You don't act nervous._

_I know. It's nice to pretend to be something I'm not; takes away the nerves._ Sagitta was still smiling when she said this.

Her words got to Aquila. _Let's go fly_, he decided, jumping off the branch and hovering.

Sagitta didn't ask why, but flying was always a good idea to her anyways.

Wind streamed through their feathers as they swished between trees. The latii swooped around branches. Burst through clusters of leaves. Glided past threads of moonlight so fast that they were only a flash, brief as lightning. The cool air lightened Aquila's heavy soul, replacing anxiety with ease. The thought of tomorrow still weighed on his mind, but he found it wasn't so hard to put aside as before.

Slowing down came as a dull upset. It didn't happen because they were tired – what was _tired?_ – or because something was blocking their way – they were unstoppable – but because they had reached the Battle Frontier and it was getting late. Probably past midnight or one am by now.

_Think you can sleep?_ asked Sagitta.

Aquila did. "Thanks," he said out loud.

"See you in the morning," Sagitta voiced, turning and zooming off toward the Battle Castle.

Aquila descended toward the Arcade, where Kyle was staying, thinking, _See you then._

_I'll look forward to that._

* * *

><p>Kevin lay with eyes wide open. He hated his internal clock; it was still partially on Hoenn time. At least he was waking up at 2 and not at midnight anymore.<p>

He went over the battle layout in his head – essentially, they were just going to surround the enemy. Not super creative, but with any luck Syzygy would expect something really advanced from them. Most of the fighting was expected to take place in Eterna Forest, but Kevin figured other places would get dragged into the mess. They were just going to have to wait and see, for the most part.

His Lynch friends, of course, were special forces. The ninjas of the army. Kevin had to admit, he was proud of all they'd achieved. All four had reached Bankai, three of them found vindica, and they had even discovered what nemesial was. He had almost a parental sense towards their accomplishments, like a father whose kid had won the science fair.

_Except this is bigger than a science fair_, Kevin told himself.

Amidst all the pride, though, there was something else coming at him. It was a far less welcome feeling, and he had only one guess for what it was.

Isolation. Loneliness. Separation. Technically that's three, but they're all close in meaning. The four had grown incredibly close, even before learning Bankai and things. Kevin was the odd one out, the old friend who'd moved to Hoenn and never called.

_Maybe Ashley was right. I shouldn't have left._

Kevin shook his head and rolled over on the mattress. _No, I'm an aura guardian. It's my job to solve problems._

Nothing could distract him from that.

* * *

><p>"No… you can't have her…"<p>

"Wake up, it's just a bad dream…"

"… stop… let me go…"

"You're dreaming, it's all right."

"…need to go help her… someone help her… please… help…"

"Kyle – Kyle, wake up, you're freaking me out now!"

A pair of dark brown eyes forced themselves open. Aj stopped shaking him.

"Dude, that was some dream. I've never seen you like that before," Aj said, sounding a little shocked.

Kyle blinked blearily. "Where's Ashley?" His words snagged on each other.

"She's okay."

"No, she's in trouble! She–" Kyle started to fling his feet off the Battle Arcade's couch.

"_Relax_. It was just a dream," Aj said forcefully, shoving him back down. "A dream, you hear me?"

Kyle finally settled down. Wordlessly, he drew his knees up to his head and stuck his face in them. Aj couldn't figure out what he was doing.

_Wait a minute... Is he...?_

Her suspicions were confirmed when Kyle raised his head again. Even in the dim light coming through the windows, Aj could easily see that Kyle's eyes were very, very shiny. Not the pre-nerdy-rant shiny Ashley had once pointed out to her. Post-tears shiny.

"I'm scared," Kyle admitted softly.

"We all are," Aj reassured him, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "You caught me off guard, though. I didn't think you'd ever break down like that."

Kyle laughed weakly. "So there you have it. My nemesial."

"I don't think liking a girl the way you do counts as nemesial. For one thing, nemesial is only in Bankai," Aj pointed out.

"It's still a weakness. I keep worrying about her, especially with all that's going on right now."

"And then there was Iro a few days ago," Aj added. "Shooting her."

Kyle groaned. "The worst. Fyr trying to crush her with rock slide was awful, too, but I don't get nightmares about Fyr…" he trailed off.

"That was about Iro?" Aj said sympathetically.

"Yeah." Kyle whispered.

Aj let out a heavy breath. "I've been telling you guys to lighten up and be more hopeful, cause this is making the situation feel hopeless. But with everything that's happening between us, the circumstances have become more intense, and our connections to each other are more than just friends in this intensity. And there's a lot more on the line than even the fate of the Sinnoh region, to us at least."

Kyle didn't respond. Aj saw the dead-ended conversation and started a new one. "So did you ask her out?"

The morose teen cracked a smile. "Sort of. I invited her on a fly and went with her to a cafe in Sunyshore."

"But she didn't know it was kind of a date."

"No. And it was only kind of a date."

Aj laughed softly. "You guys would be cute together."

Kyle shook his head, still smiling. "You've been saying that ever since you figured out I like her, and I still say she'll never feel the same."

Aj smirked and glanced at the clock. "Feeling any better now? You've only got a few more hours to sleep."

Kyle nodded. "Aj, thanks."

"Anytime," the Arcade Star replied, getting to her feet.

Walking through the door to her own room, Aj thought of what he'd said.

_… she'll never feel the same..._

Aj Ferra laughed to herself. _Oh, will she?_

* * *

><p><strong>Good news – the problems I was having with a friend of mine have gone away, so now I don't think I'll be having afternoons when I'm too moody to do anything but listen to music anymore. At least not for a bit. The new development that comes with this <em>may<em> affect Novas are Shattered Stars, but most likely the change won't harm this story.**

**Productivity! WOOHOO!**

**Final battle next chapter. Of course, the last major-plot-event battle took several chapters. I have a good idea of what I want to happen, and especially what will come in the end. Can't wait!**

**See you then!**


	23. The Upper Hand

**Here it is! Author's note at end of chapter, but not now.**

**Uh, except happy EXTRAORDINARILY LATE birthday to Kyle Delta. Okay, NOW chapter.**

* * *

><p>Ashley ducked beneath a jab at her head and blasted a close-range ice shard at the offending breloom. So far the fight was going in their favor – Syzygy grunts tended to be far too easy to beat. Periodic glimpses of her own pokemon informed her that they were also faring well. Daikenki had a black eye and Sola was sporting a scrape across her flank, but there weren't other injuries among her team.<p>

She hadn't seen her Lynch friends in a while. Aj and Mike had been assigned to the division advancing towards the Eterna headquarters from the south. Kevin was in the north one, and Kyle in the east. Ashley found it unfair that Aj and Mike were together while she and Kyle were far apart. Then again, Ashley probably was able to handle separation better than Aj. This was the sort of thing where Ashley was stronger.

"We're advancing now," Roark yelled over the din of battle.

Ashley icepunched the breloom, knocking him out, and shouted, "Guys, moving forward!"

The call continued through the division, starting in different locations and spreading out like a ripple in water. Ashley observed the advance with a bit of fascination – this was going really smoothly. They kept driving Syzygy's forces back, fighting any new forces that came up, rinsing, repeating. Eventually they would reach the rock door to the HQ and, with the League's other forces fencing in the other sides, Syzygy would be surrounded. It was going really, really well. Ashley remembered how worried they'd all been about this pushover of a battle and laughed.

She stopped laughing when she heard the blast.

* * *

><p>Screams of trainers and pokemon alike streaked through the air from Kevin's left. Without thinking, he dashed in that direction, wondering, frantically worrying what it was.<p>

He reached the spot – everyone else was running from the wreckage, which made it hard to miss. No one else was running _towards_ it, but Kevin sensed an aura that seemed… different. Kinda-really-weird.

Trees around him had splintered in places, pieces strewn in the brush. Bodies of humans and pokemon lay among the branches; some might have been unconscious, but the blood and breakage of others pronounced them dead. Reaching out to the pained, still-alive auras and starting to heal them, Kevin looked around for what had caused this…

Another explosion boomed nearby, shaking the earth. Stumbling a little on the unsteady ground, Kevin turned in that direction. There wasn't anything there, at least nothing significantly weaponlike.

Land mines?

He glanced down. The forest floor itself had barely been touched. It couldn't be land mines.

Suddenly, he sensed something rushing towards him. Dodging to his right, Kevin flinched as a missile of white energy zoomed past, smashing an innocent cluster of trees.

Kevin spun around. It was an aircraft of some kind, sort of like a helicopter but very quiet and with a strange contraption of pipes and metal attached to its bottom. A growing white glow from inside a central opening indicated that it was steadily gaining energy… uh oh.

He tensed, but the cannon wasn't meant for him. Energy rocketed at another section of the forest, blasting battlers with it. Cries of those hit were nearly drowned out by the sound of the blast itself.

_Where's all the energy from?_

Kevin looked up and noticed a steady, invisible energy flow streaming to the helicopter. He could sense its aura. On the side of the aircraft was a small yellow spot that looked decorative, but was absorbing the energy flow.

_That thing's vital, huh?_ Kevin thought.; Grinning impishly, he collected aura energy in his hands. _So what happens if I mess with it?_

Kevin released the aurasphere, letting it rocket towards the node. As it grew close, he realized, it shrank until it was just a wisp of blue aura being sucked into the contraption.

_It was absorbed?!_

His own blue aura was in the next shot of energy fired. It stood out starkly against the white, but Kevin hoped they hadn't noticed.

A tinny voice suddenly came from above: "Aurasphere! It's the fighting one!

"Get him!"

A hatch on the side of the helicopter opened. With several flashes of red pokeball light, a flock of honchkrow appeared outside the open door. They swooped down, squawking harshly. Kevin hastily created a shield of aura to protect him, but the honchkrows made it through before the shield was solid.

"Get off!" Kevin yelped, blasting messy auraspheres at the birds. Claws found their way to him, cutting into his back, his arms, his face. He heard a gleeful scream just before he slipped into darkness.

* * *

><p>She hit the "pick up" button on her Xtranceiver two seconds after it rang. "Yeah?"<p>

Mike's voice came through. "Have you seen Kyle?"

Ashley frowned. "He's in the division opposite mine. I haven't seen him since we split up." She had to shout to be heard. "Why?"

"He… Iro called me and said they have him."

Ashley jumped and was promptly smacked with the flat end of a leaf blade. "Did you call Kyle?" she inquired, fending off a shiftry with ice punches.

"I did. The connection said he was offline, which means either his Xtranceiver is off or–"

"Or it's destroyed," Ashley finished for him. "I don't have to be a tech genius to know that."

"So, um, I was just checking. Do you have Ash's number? I think he's in Kyle's division."

"I'll send it to you," Ashley promised, hanging up. She finished off the shiftry with an avalanche and scrolled through her contacts.

The thought of flying over to the east division drifted by her brain, but she didn't consider it. That was beyond stupidity – she would be deserting her division, she could be found and killed by Syzygy, Kyle might be fine after all.

She was putting her hopes on that.

* * *

><p>"Pikachu, follow me!"<p>

The bright yellow mouse stopped electrocuting a jigglypuff and darted towards his trainer (he had no clue why a Syzygy grunt had a jigglypuff who couldn't use sing). Once Pikachu was safely on his shoulder, Ash started to run through the woods. The explosions and sparring and missiles of various energy types whizzing around him turned the simple run into something like parkour. Ash felt pretty pro–

***CLUNK***

Until he ran headfirst into a tree.

"You okay?" Ash dizzily let someone help him to his feet (It wasn't Pikachu. Pikachu looked too annoyed).

"Y-yeah."

"Where're you going in such a rush?" the trainer asked. He couldn't have been more than ten years old.

"I'm looking for Kyle Delta," Ash explained. "Apparently he's gone missing."

"Good luck then. Raichu, attack that fearow!" he suddenly yelled. A raichu – presumably his – sent a bolt of electricity at a bird swooping down on them. Ash shuddered – he didn't like fearows. They were too much like spearows. He didn't like spearows either. Bad memories.

Something twitched behind the kid. "Hey… Watch out!" Ash shouted. "Pikachu, get it!"

"CHUUUUUU!"

The kid stared at the kecleon that suddenly appeared and fell from the tree she had been clinging to. "Dang… Thanks," he said, surprised. "I owe you one."

"Later," Ash suggested. "After all this is over." He went to keep looking for Kyle.

* * *

><p>Kevin awoke somewhere incredibly noisy. Struggling to open his eyes, he found his body completely paralyzed. His top half stung with the cuts from those honchkrows, and his sneakers had been replaced by heavier shoes. Wherever he was looked fairly dark – oh. He was blindfolded. That explained it. Extending his aura vision outward, Kevin saw his surroundings through the helicopter walls. He didn't recognize the place, although it was definitely some city with huge skyscrapers. He was on top of one of them.<p>

Kevin soon figured out what the loud noises were: people shouting at each other.

"Don't be dumb, of course that's him! He shot a fricking fighting-type move at the receiver."

"That isn't the champion, dumb*ss!"

"Well, geez, the champions don't go around handing out autographed photos, do they?! Besides, one of them's dark skinned, right? That's him."

"Idiot, it's _Michael Voltwing_ who has dark skin, not Kyle-(he put an explicative here)-Delta!"

"Well, then _you_ explain the aurasphere! Explain how a flying-electric type did that!"

"Problem?"

The voices quieted down. "Administrator Crateron," one greeted the newcomer. "We were, ah, discussing –"

"Sir, that's not Kyle Delta in there at all!"

"Is too–"

"Shut it." Every subordinate fell silent at Crateron's crisp command. Kevin heard the sound of someone climbing up a medal step. Crateron cursed under his breath. "Who obtained him?

"Me and Jasper," a woman's voice answered.

"Well, first of all, the dark one and the skinny one are two different Lynches, correct?"

Silence. "Second, this boy is taking quite a while to heal. Delta wouldn't have a single scratch by this time."

"And third, _how the hell did you replace his shoes over there with boots and not *bleep*ing realize that he HAD shoes in the FIRST place?!_"

Kevin felt the helicopter quake – no, it must have been everything that quaked, because the grunts all looked suddenly off balance. Only Crateron remained standing tall, emitting an angry aura.

The shaking calmed down suddenly. Crateron's voice floated to Kevin. "Well now. Let's bring our new guest inside."

* * *

><p>Swinging his sword around, Kyle shot a focus blast at a bug pokemon trying to sneak up on him. He'd been way more wary ever since a salamence had caught him off guard and dragon clawed his Xtranceiver to bits. A salamence! Who gets snuck up on by a salamence?<p>

A zangoose popped up in front of him. "There you are," the pokemon said, "Ash has been looking for you."

"Oh. Where's he at?" Kyle asked.

The zangoose pointed a ways behind him. "Thanks, Strike," Kyle said, sprinting in that direction.

Ash wasn't hard to find. Kyle practically ran into him. "Hey. We all thought you were missing," Ash said, ducking under a flamethrower. Pikachu jumped off him shoulder and launched an electroball at some Unovan fire pig.

"Missing?"

"Iro called Mike and said they had you?"

Kyle frowned and morphed into psychic type. Reaching out with his mind, he said telepathically, _Mike?_

_There you are_, a relieved voice thought back. _Iro called to get us all worried, I guess. What happened to your Xtranceiver?_ Mike wanted to know.

_Got smashed._ Kyle looked for Aj, who was nearby. _How's it going?_

_I'm good. Glad to hear you're still ali- HOLY CRAP HIEROGLYPHIC BIRD BYE._

Her connection cut off abruptly. Wondering vaguely what a hieroglyphic bird was, Kyle found Dawn's presence in the northern division.

_Kyle, thank Arceus! It's awful, we've got some kind of helicopters bombing us up here. Attacking them doesn't work._

_Why didn't you contact anyone?_

_I have a Poketch, not an Xtranceiver. Candice has been calling for backup._

_Shoot… Stay fighting._

_Yep_, Dawn affirmed.

Kyle searched around for his other friend in the northern division. He found Needle and Chira, Kevin's jolteon and pachirisu, easily enough.

Kevin…

Where was he?

Kyle checked again and again. Some scyther flew to him and nearly chopped his head off, but Kyle psychicked her away in time. He was still looking for Kevin while fighting the scyther. By the time he finally defeated the scyther, Kyle was certain that Kevin wasn't there.

_Well, this isn't good._

* * *

><p><em>Hey there.<em>

Ashley smiled. _Hey. Glad to hear you're okay, then._

_Yep. A salamence got my Xtranceiver_, Kyle explained. _Um, we still have a problem._

A problem? Until a few minutes ago, Ashley had thought Kyle's disappearance would be the only possible problem. _What is it?_

_We can't find Kevin. I looked all over his division._

_Did you guys call him?_ Ashley wanted to know.

_Yeah. We picked up a signal from Sunyshore City for a few seconds before the line went dead._

_That's where we're heading, then?_

_You guessed it._

Kyle's psychic connection cut off. Checking to make sure Infade's pokeball was still with her (it was), she went over to Roark and told him what was going on. She almost flew away right after that, but remembered at the last moment to turn back and yell at the top of her lungs,

"Show them what you're made of!"

* * *

><p>"What's your name, kid?"<p>

"Kyle Delta."

"Mm-hm. That's what we told Iro, but only because _some_ people were being idiots. What's your real name."

"Kyle Delta," Kevin repeated.

"It's really not," the impatient Syzygy admin huffed.

"Well, apparently I'm worth more to you guys as Kyle Delta," Kevin explained.

"You're worth more to everyone _without_ your brains scattered all over the floor."

"Duh. You wouldn't get the mind of a fighter then."

A silence. Then Crateron saying in a low voice, "How do you know about the prophecy?"

_Shoot. Not everyone knows it._ "It's partly _about_ me," Kevin said aloud.

"You aren't Kyle Delta!"

"Am too."

"Ugh… Kim, what did you say he did?"

A female voice. "He tried to attack us with an aurasphere, but it got absorbed. And when I sent my honchkrows after him, he put up some kind of protect shield. The honchkrows got through before the protect was complete."

"So, either a fighting Lynch…" Recognition dawned in Crateron's voice. "… or an aura guardian. _Kevin Yale._"

"I prefer to be called –"

"Kyle Delta, I know. Kim, Jasper, take him to my room."

Kevin piped up, "That would be easier for you if I weren't tied to a chair."

"You're light," Crateron dismissed it. "Besides, we don't want a valuable hostage running off."

"Valuable hostage?"

"Bait. Even though you're not Kyle Delta, you're worthwhile to us. Lucky little Kevin Yale."

* * *

><p>Kyle, unsurprisingly, had teleported to Sunyshore and reached it ages ago. Ashley flapped her way down from the sky. Sunyshore City seemed somehow different than the last time she'd been here, but she'd been eleven then. And since many high-levelled trainers lived here, the streets were nearly bare of life. Many residents had gone to fight against Syzygy.<p>

"Seen Mike?" he asked her.

"He's coming."

Kyle nodded. Ashley wanted to say something else. She didn't know what.

"So." Kyle cleared his throat. "Kevin's down there," he pointed beneath a skyscraper, "so I'm expecting Crateron to be involved."

"Fighting him underground will be a pain," Ashley said with a grimace.

"More than a pain. He'll have the upper hand the whole time," Kyle sighed.

"What's that called? Figurative irony?" Ashley grinned.

Kyle realized what he'd said. "The upper hand? I dunno."

Mike swooped in. "Aj's surfing," he mentioned, then he flew up and towards the sea.

"Surfing?" Ashley repeated blankly.

Kyle thought it over. "They _were_ in the southern part of Eterna forest. That's the south end of the whole continent."

Aj must have been a fast surfer, because she was arriving just as Kyle and Ashley made it to the beach. Sand coated Aj's wet feet as she ran up the sandy shore to reach them. "Why is everything off?" she wanted to know, staring behind them.

The other three turned around. It really was off. Nothing in the city whirred, shone, or moved.

"Another power outage?" Kyle wondered.

Mike shook his head. "Let's worry about this in a bit. First we need to find Kevin."

It wasn't exactly _finding_ him that was the problem; Kyle had done that. The problem was reaching him. With the elevators out, the four Lynches had to take the stairs down. Kyle informed them of an anti-teleporting mechanism acting throughout the building.

"This… is… unfair," panted Aj. "He's just trying… to tire us out…"

"It's more smart than unfair," Mike pointed out, "since he's giving himself a double advantage. Underground, and we have less stamina by the time we reach him."

"Yeah, but… since we're the… the martyrs here… I have the right… to complain about it…"

"Good news is, we're almost there," Kyle said, his eyes losing a pink tint.

"Is there bad news?"

Kyle nodded. "Bad news is, we're almost there."

The stairs sloped down to reach a large, slightly askew metal door. Ashley reached for it.

"DON'TTOUCHIT!"

She yanked her arm back. Mike, who was the one who'd yelled the warning, examined the door. He grimaced. "Yep. It's got an electric current running through it." Mike morphed into electric Shikai and stretched his arm toward the door.

"Whoa there." Ashley pulled him back. "Excuse me mister ground-weakness, what are you doing?"

"Opening the door. I've got an electric resistance," Mike responded.

"Knowing you could get shot by a ground move the instant you open it?" Ashley questioned.

"I know the risks. It's fine."

Ashley sighed and shook her head. "Sacrifices are noble," she began. Dragon energy swooped around her and transformed her into a type resistant to electricity. "… but unnecessary," she finished. "Get into flying mode; you'll need it."

She pulled the metal door open. As predicted by Mike, electricity surged through her palms into her. "Go in," Ashley gasped, cringing at the high voltage.

They got through quickly. Ashley let go of the electrified door and felt something come over her. It was… nice. That in itself scared her. She looked around quickly and found Kyle easing a beam of soft pink energy into her. Heal pulse.

"Thanks," Ashley said, surprised and… touched.

"You're welcome." Kyle finished and scanned the room. Ashley looked around, too.

The room was maybe seven feet high – not nearly enough room to fly in. It was, however, very wide and long, like a multi-levelled parking garage. The ceiling and walls were made of smooth concrete; the floor, hard earth. Concrete pillars held up the ceiling every 20 feet or so.

In the far wall was a barred door. Ashley could barely see someone – Kevin? – behind it.

"You came. I am most unsurprised."

Crateron, the administrator who liked tuxedos so much, emerged from behind a concrete pillar. "I would like to propose a trade."

"Trade. Trading is something allies or friends do," Aj told him. "We are not friends."

Crateron merely smiled. Ashley noticed something new about his outfit: he had a rusty brown flower pinned to his lapel.

"But Kevin Yale is your friend, is he not?" Crateron gestured behind him. "Your friend currently is in the hands who, as you put it, 'are not friends'."

Ashley looked through the metal gate again and realized Kevin was gagged and tied to a chair.

"The trade," Crateron continued, "is Kevin Yale in exchange for one of you four. I do not have a preference which one."

Mike spoke, barely moving his lips. "Kyle, that's really Kevin?"

Kyle closed his eyes momentarily and nodded. "If you think you can try to sacrifice yourself again, though, you're delusional."

Mike grinned. "Fighting it is. Count of three?"

"Screw count of three, let's _go_," Ashley said, becoming an ice type. Aj went for water; Kyle already was in psychic form. Mike was in flying. All four were in secondary.

Crateron let out a chuckle as the four Lynches rushed at him. "Have it your way," he declared, the flower on his lapel starting to glow.

A crack shook the air. Kyle's foot found nothing beneath it; Crateron had made a fissure in the ground. The psychic Lynch fell in, grabbing hold of the crevice's edge to stay up. Only his head was aboveground.

"Kyle!" Ashley, who wasn't far from him, ran towards the gap in the floor. She took ahold of one arm and started to pull him up.

Too late. With a sweeping gesture, Crateron slammed the two sides of the fault together, confining Kyle in the ground.

Kyle screamed.

Ashley's eyes flashed. Her expression would have made sense on an angry crobat. She released a beam of ice directly at Crateron, who sidestepped it.

"Some might call my vindica quite mundane," he said, firing a mud shot at Aj. Crateron was remarkably calm, considering that he'd just crushed a teenager in a fissure. "It is only elemental manipulation. Nothing so special. But fissure-creation has more perks than one might think. You see, not only is Kyle Delta now stuck there–" He avoided another icebeam, as well as an air slash from Mike. "–but also, the ground has encased his feet. He is in normal form now."

Ashley glanced at Kyle. Crateron was right; Kyle had been in psychic secondary form before, but now he seemed human, immobilized by the weight of the earth on him. The rest of the crevice had sealed shut like water leveling out. If he had still been in psychic form, he could have psychicked himself out of the ground. She tried not to meet his eyes, but it happened anyways. All she saw in them was pain.

"Sitting duck," Crateron said briefly, raising his hands.

She couldn't react in time. The ground beneath her feet gave out, pitching her into a narrow chasm. Ashley inhaled sharply and grabbed the edge, just as Kyle had. She started to pull herself out, but not before the two sides of the fissure closed up. Ashley felt her limbs break under the pressure. All she could manage was a pained groan.

Crateron turned to Mike and Aj. Mike swiped an air slash at the ground type, who countered with mud shot again. Quickly, Aj blasted a waterpulse at the admin. It barreled right into him and exploded, soaking him with water.

Infuriated, Crateron slammed his foot into the ground. The place started to shake, knocking Aj off her feet. Mike, who couldn't fly with the low ceiling, stumbled under the quake's influence and used a pillar to stay upright. _That can't have been good for Ashley and Kyle_, he realized.

The shaking stopped and Crateron's flower glowed. A crevice opened up beneath Mike, who fell in momentarily. He came back up with a strong wingbeat, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling in the process. The ground snapped shut beneath him.

Aj, meanwhile, silently created a waterpulse. Her entire body burst with water, and she rocketed at Crateron with the waterpulse heading her attack. At the last moment, he saw what was coming his way and used his arm to block.

A snap; a howl. From Crateron, not Aj. The ground type's arm was bent at a place just below his elbow. Glaring at Aj, the admin growled, "You _will_ be repaid!"

He opened up a fissure beneath Aj; by using aquajet, she avoided getting closed in. Mike had backed up thirty feet and now charged forward, his wings beginning to shine cobalt blue. Crateron created a crevice under Mike, who stumbled and had to glide to get over it, his building sky attack destroyed. The Syzygy admin forced it shut and created a bone from ground energy around him. Mike, who had wound up near the admin after gliding over the fissure, found himself the target of a bone rush onslaught. He covered his head, only for Crateron to jab his stomach with the bone, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him twenty feet back. The agility and power of the bone rush was extraordinary, especially since Crateron was using only one hand. His other arm was limp at his side.

Aj shot a watergun at Crateron, but he ducked under it and hurled the bone at her. Blasting it away with a second watergun, Aj didn't notice Crateron using drill run until it was too late. The impact knocked her partway across the room, into a pillar.

_There's got to be __some__ way to defeat him_, Aj thought, trying to get air back into her lungs. _Some way to… to overwhelm him…_

She had an idea. Ignoring a trio of mud slaps that crashed into her, Aj amassed a wave of water. She rushed forward, surfing with the small lake she'd created over the hand, dry ground. Swerving around earth powers that blasted holes in her wave, courtesy of Crateron, she continued to replenish her broken wave with water and pick up speed.

His red-brown flower suddenly glowed.

Another crevice, this one wider than ones before, appeared in front of the surge of water. A scream escaped Aj as the front edge of her wave slid straight over the edge into the chasm. She sank through the water and dug her heels into the somewhat muddy ground next to the fissure, willing the surf not to push her in. Crateron kept it open in front of her while he turned to fight Mike. Another fissure opened up between Mike and Crateron; the latter was using earth powers that exploded behind Mike to drive the younger Lynch towards the gap.

Mike's and Aj's eyes met. She realized he wasn't asking for help so much as telling her something.

_I see it!_

Aj summoned the water that hadn't yet flowed over the fissure's edge and raised it over her head. She had to aim slightly downward at him for this.

The giant wave, reconstructed into a hydro pump, rocketed forward. It sprayed drops of water out to the side as it shot towards the Syzygy admin.

Had Crateron seen the hydro pump coming, he might have jumped aside or tried to counter it. But it was too large and too fast to dodge, and too strong to counter. And he didn't turn around anyways. All Crateron did was tumble into his own fissure, washed in by Aj's hydro pump. If he screamed as he fell, it was drowned out in the sound of water sloshing down after him.

Aj and Mike both stood there, breathing heavily, acting like Crateron could spring back out of the chasm at any moment… And then Aj realized, he probably wouldn't. He probably never would.

"Did we just…" Aj began.

"Yeah," Mike answered.

He jogged over to free Kevin. Aj fumbled for her pokeball and then tossed it over the crevice behind her.

"Luoir," she said, "use dig."

Her lucario spotted Ashley and Kyle and immediately dug her way underground. The earth around Ashley crumbled first, giving back the Castle Valet's mobility. She drew an unnaturally bent arm out of the ground, holding a battered but intact pokeball, and said quietly, "Infade, help dig Kyle out."

By the time the ground encasing Kyle had loosened, Mike was gliding over the two still-open crevices with Kevin hanging from his arms. Kevin seemed fine; if he'd been injured, he's probably managed to heal himself. The two Lynches, two pokemon, and one aura guardian eased their friends out of the earth.

Most of Kyle's and Ashley's clothes were stained reddish-brown from a mix of dirt and blood. Anywhere on them that wasn't openly bleeding had either gotten lucky or was already turning purple. Dirt was embedded in their skin. The two sides of the fissures had crushed the Lynches' bones between them, and by the way Ashley was coughing out blood, something inside her had burst. The others avoided looking for every wound and fracture and injury – there were too many anyways – but Aj didn't need a formula to know that this was far beyond the healing abilities of a Lynch.

"Aj, come here." Kevin beckoned her over to Kyle's side. "I'm going to demonstrate aura healing. You'll have to follow by example, because I don't want to lose any time."

As Kevin began, Kyle reached for his gallade's pokeball. His right arm had been hanging out of the chasm when Crateron slammed it shut, so that one limb was unscathed. His pokeball had a crack through the red half.

"Will that work?" Mike wondered, frowning.

Kyle tapped the release mechanism and sighed in relief when Apade emerged. "Can you get Ashley?" he requested, his speech a little slurred.

Apade found Ashley and started to use heal pulse on her. Kevin and Aj were with Kyle.

"You guys will still be fragile after this," Kevin warned as he healed torn bits of aura. "Not only have you both lost a lot of blood, but those broken bones won't be at their full strength. Don't do anything drastic for a bit after we're done."

Kyle turned his head towards Kevin. "We're in a war," he said gravely. "Drastic will probably be necessary."

* * *

><p><strong>Kevin Yale is, in fact, very tall. Not little. He moved to my friend's school, and she told me he's mega tall. Kyle's grown taller, too. And Aj's gone way past me. Mike I don't know about, but geez... I used to be the tallest, and now everyone is shooting past me, whether they're a girl or guy D:<strong>

****"Show them what you're made of" is from chapter 13, where Ashley shouted that to Sola. To refresh your memory, it's essentially a synonym in her team for "You're on your own, don't get knocked out, good luck."****

**I discovered what a boutonniere is a few weeks ago. It's the flower a guy pins to his suit jacket either at prom or at a wedding; the male counterpart to a corsage. Junior prom just happened, and... and it happened, I guess. That was all. Someone told me prom doesn't usually change anything between people. So not true.**

**Oh, so I recently decided my pseudo-middle name should be Jessica, which makes me Ashley Jessica Eon. AJ Eon. Wut. Even weirder is that the "Jessica" part comes from my friend named Mike ._. ok then.**

**Hope you liked it, review, and see you next chapter :D**


	24. Copter Stopping

**So last time I COMPLETELY forgot to mention the 2-year mark. And now it's like... quite a bit past the 2-year-mark... ._.' I really don't have any excuses... Just read it. Hope you enjoy :)**

**Note: Kevin isn't a Lynch. Just clearing that up in case you thought he was.**

* * *

><p>"Ashley, can you call Maylene?"<p>

Ashley looked at Mike with no emotion whatsoever. "Sure," she said.

A few seconds passed.

"…oh, right, it got smushed…"

Aj, Kevin, and Apade had healed Ashley and Kyle as best they could, but there was only so much they could do. The duo's clothes were torn and just as covered in blood and dirt as the rest of them, though their wounds were gone. Their Xtranceivers were cracked, mangled, and completely useless.

"All right, to prevent further confusion," said Ashley, unstrapping the device from her wrist, "I'll get rid of these…"

Ashley held out a hand to Kyle, who let her take the gadget from his arm. His wrist was warm.

"I'll call her," Mike said, tapping his Xtranceiver screen. Ashley went to find a trash can.

When she returned, Mike was saying, "…complete blackout, Kevin says he sees the energy going somewhere…?"

"Away from the individual solar panels as well as Sunyshore Tower," Kevin said. "It's all going west-ish."

Aj suddenly, sharply inhaled. "Wait, if they're taking energy from Sunyshore, then Veilstone…"

"The meteors' energy is probably being taken, too," Maylene said through the Xtranceiver. "That's what they were doing when they kidnapped me and Volkner all those months ago. Researching how to take it."

"Anyways, that's where the energy for the helicopters is coming from," Mike concluded.

"But… well, they're somewhat short-range, aren't they?"

"What do you mean?" Mike asked, frowning.

"Um… Well, energy from attacks gets sucked in by the copters, but as you get further away, less energy gets eaten. At some point, attack energy is unaffected," Maylene explained.

"How wide is the range of energy draining?" Kyle asked.

"Hang on." They heard several heavy impacts and a pokemon groan. "Okay, you were asking… Um, I'll have to…"

Maylene's voice was suddenly far away from her Xtranceiver. Her yell, "Candice!" was barely audible over the other battle sounds. The five teens froze.

"Maylene, are you all right?" Ashley shouted.

"Hm? Yeah, I was getting Candice to come over here." Ashley and Mike both fell on their face; the others facepalmed. "Candice is better at gauging distances than I am. What's the range of the energy receivers on the 'copters, Candice?"

"About a three mile radius."

The word "receivers" poked at something in Ashley's brain.

"How far are you from the headquarters?" she and Kyle asked simultaneously. Aj had the good sense not to laugh.

"Two and a quarter."

"The _receivers_," Ashley and Kyle said again. This time, Aj had to laugh.

Mike got it too. "The energy travels long distance to the receivers at the HQ, which gives it to the short distance 'copters."

"Dang, now that's two things to stop," Maylene said through the Xtranceiver. "The energy getting stolen from the cities, and the energy going to the 'copters."

"Snowpoint," Candice said suddenly.

"Hm? No, it's just Veilstone and Sunysho–"

"No, I mean Syzygy has this computer there… Lucian found it in the labyrinth. It's something like a main control for a system… He said it controls energy between the receivers and whatever device needs it. None of us knew the destination for the energy at the time, but that must be it."

"It doesn't control the energy going _to_ the receivers, though?" Aj asked.

"Nope, that's controlled by the computers at the power plant," Maylene said. "Volkner and I found those. There's this high-up shaft from the main room that goes to a room of computers. Those ones control the receivers themselves – where the energy comes from, where it goes, how much gets transferred, stuff like that."

"Two locations to cover then, Snowpoint and the power plant," said Mike.

"Do you mind if I hang up? There's a magnezone coming this wa–"

The connection abruptly cut off.

"Hope they're all right," worried Kevin.

"The magnezone probably messed up the connection, it's okay," Kyle reassured him.

No one was reassured.

"We should split up," Kevin decided. "Kyle, you and Mike are the computer people–"

*nerds* coughed Ashley.

*geeks* sneezed Aj.

"–so you should go separately. Ashley…" Kevin hesitated. "Ashley and Kyle are still kind of fragile, so they ought to split up too. That means Kyle and Aj, and Mike and Ashley."

The silence that followed said clearly that no one really wanted this arrangement.

Ashley cleared her throat. "Well, if we could–"

Mike's Xtranceiver started playing a 1 Direction song. He blinked. "That's not my ringtone, I swear…"

Ashley heard a luxray-ish snicker coming from the pokeball on Mike's belt. Trust Shiolu to pull something like that.

"WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?" a voice blasted from Mike's Xtranceiver. "I'VE BEEN WAITING AN HOUR, AND I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CALL ASHLEY FOR THE PAST TEN MINUTES–"

"Axel?" Ashley craned her head to see the screen, which was on video call. The device showed a blue-haired boy scowling at the screen. "Axel, what's going on?"

"I'm in Snowpoint, I can't find anyone, you won't pick up your Xtranceiver–"

"Whoa, back up… you're in _Snowpoint?_"

"Yeah, you said people were supposed to meet here to fight Syzygyfyxycylyvydybyey."

Aj suddenly said, "If Kyle and Ashley went to Snowpoint, Axel could back them up." Everyone looked at her; she shrugged. "He's there anyways."

"If that works with you guys," Kevin said, scanning their faces. Not one objected.

"Great. Axel, Kyle and I will meet you behind the gym," Ashley said.

Axel grumbled. "Will you tell me what's going on _then?_"

"Yep."

Mike hung up the call.

"What about you?" Aj said to Kevin.

He shrugged. "I might just go back to Eterna and fight. I'm not special ops. And the northern divisions sounds like it needs help."

"Oh. All right."

"Guess we should get going," Mike said. "Aj, I'll fly with you."

"I can't fly… oh," said Aj. Mike had gestured at the sea behind them. He could fly; she could surf. They could travel together.

_Lucky them_, thought Ashley. The distance from Sunyshore to Snowpoint was too far for Kyle to teleport them both. One person, maybe, but not two. She'd be stuck flying.

"See you guys later," said Kevin, who turned and started to sprint inland. He sped up beyond normal human speed, using aura to run faster and faster until he was out of sight.

"See you guys," said Mike.

Ashley grinned at the duo walking down the beach. "I like that we're saying 'see you' now. It's like promising to see each other again."

Kyle smiled and cleared his throat. "So I had an idea… how far can you faint attack?"

Nine seconds, one teleport, and one faint attack later, two Lynches appeared behind the Snowpoint gym and promptly collapsed in the snow.

"What's up with you guys?" said a voice. Ashley saw blue hair and shiny silver-and-blue headphones hanging over her.

"Hey Axel," she said, ignoring the extreme exhaustion of faint attacking across the country. "How've you been."

Kyle didn't say anything. Judging by the way he was clutching his head, long-distance teleportation had a different effect than long-distance faint attacking.

"So what's up with no one being here?" Axel wanted to know.

By the time Ashley finished bringing him up to speed, the two Lynches had finally recovered from their journey. The three ventured down the ladder Roark set up months ago. Ashley, who was still a dark type, led the way. Cold, sandy dirt shifted beneath their bare feet or, in Axel's case, ornate boots.

The door at the end of the tunnel clicked open when Ashley pushed it. "Axel, can you see?" she whispered.

"Ehh… no," Axel said, his voice echoing throughout the chamber.

"Mmkay. Well, we'll let you know if you're gonna step on something."

Crateron's old room was much neater than the last time they'd passed through. Then again, the place had been a wreck then. All the destroyed computers had been replaced with new, whole ones. Crateron's plateau was gone, too.

"Is the computer we're looking for in here?" Ashley asked the psychic type.

Kyle scanned the rows of PCs and shook his head. "Doesn't feel like it. It must be in the labyrinth itself."

They crossed the room (redirecting Axel around several tables he almost crashed into) and reached a door.

Ashley pulled it open. "Oh."

"When can we do something that's _not_ in the dark?" Axel grumbled.

"Soon. Toxica's place is up next. But Kyle, look, the poison's dried."

Kyle came to her side. A sticky-looking violet liquid coated the floor, with the dull appearance of dried spilled milk. Purple milk, but still milk.

"Can we get through now?" Axel huffed, pushing past them.

"Axel, wait–"

He stopped right on top of an old poison puddle. "Yeah?"

"Uh… nothing, I thought it would… still be lethal…"

"Can't stop me!" Axel boasted, turning and running off. He didn't get far.

"WHO PUT A WALL HERE?!"

"This way, Superderp," Ashley told him, taking hold of his sleeve and pulling him in the right direction.

When they reached Toxica's sunny, spacious gym, Ashley realized something.

"They can't have abandoned this place."

"Syzygy? They didn't," Kyle said, confused.

"How do you know that?" Ashley said, alarmed.

"They wouldn't just make this place all nice and snazzy and then never come back–"

"No, I mean they can't have abandoned this place during the battle. Like, right now," Ashley said.

"Please explain, my mind is going in circles," Axel prompted.

"The computer we're looking for controls energy between receivers and 'copters. Since the receiver-'copter energy flow is going on right now, but wasn't before the battle, someone must have switched it on," said Ashley.

Kyle didn't look convinced.

"That means one of them is _here_," Ashley added, in case he hadn't understood.

"The switch could have been on a timer," Kyle said. "They could have set it to switch on ahead of time, and then this morning it snapped on."

"We just gotta move through this room, right?" Axel confirmed.

"Yep. Ashley, come on, it'll be fine. The poison's dried, right? No one's here."

Ashley nodded, but still had the nagging sensation that they weren't alone.

_Not just that_, she realized. _It feels like someone's watching us._

"Axel, how can you see after being in the dark for so long?" Kyle wondered. He and Ashley were still squinting.

"Cause I'm awesome!"

"Don't run into another wall," Ashley warned.

They (somewhat blindly, but their sight was returning) found their way to the room where Ashley and Aj fought Mystor and Folii, and where Kyle and Mike later fought against Iro and Fyr. The shards of glass had been cleaned up, but a small crater remained in the middle of the floor.

"Do we go left or right?" Axel asked.

Kyle pulled a map out of his pocket. "Looks like…"

While he tried to trace the maze route between their destination and where they stood, Ashley looked around. She didn't see anyone… so why was she still getting that feeling of being watched?

"Left," said Kyle.

They strode through that doorway and the corridor behind it. The hallways seemed void of life, but Ashley was still on guard. Kyle scrutinized the map.

"There's a funny symbol marked in," he said. "I can't tell–"

Suddenly Kyle halted. "Ashley, stop–"

The hallway lit up with bright yellow light that engulfed her. An electric vibration shook the air, accompanied by Ashley's yell. Just as quickly as it began, the electricity stopped and Ashley dropped to the ground.

"Ashley, no!" Kyle lunged forward.

"Are you nuts?" Axel held him back. "If you're going to pull her out, at least _duck under the trap _first."

"Might I ask what brings you here?"

The voice sent a chill up Kyle's back; Ashley had been right.

"What brings _you_ here?" Axel said, turning around.

Toxica. "I'm just here to ward off pesky little intruders," she replied. "Now, you didn't answer my question."

"We're here to intrude, obviously," Kyle said, ducking under the electric trap and pulling Ashley back towards them.

"Well, guess I can't do anything about that. Oh wait."

Toxica fired poison at Kyle, who was helping Ashley up. In a quick flash of silver light, Axel whipped out a pair of gauntlets and deflected the shot.

"They've gotten to fight you before. It's my turn now," he said.

"Who're you?" Toxica scoffed.

"Axel Nightblazer, Aetherean, 5th Origin Captain," he said regally.

"Nice titles. Toxica Young, poison representative and administrator of Syzygy," Toxica responded.

"Thanks. Hope you're a decent fighter."

Toxica's lips curled into a grin. "Oh, you'll find me better than decent." She slashed her Bankai-induced claws at him with a cross between poison claw and fury swipes. Axel countered with his twin swords. The two very different kinds of blades clanged and bounced off each other.

Kyle took Ashley's arm and pulled it over his shoulders, supporting her so she could stand. "Stop," she mumbled. "Too… heavy for you…"

"It's fine," he whispered back. "We're getting out of here."

"What… no, the… the computer…"

"I mean out of the fight. Axel came to fight for us; we're getting out of his way."

Kyle teleported them both a short distance down the hall, past the electric trap. Behind them, Axel swirled his gauntlets in the air, collecting water and blasting it at Toxica.

The Lynches made their way down the corridor as fast as they could… Which, admittedly, wasn't very fast with Ashley leaning on Kyle to stay upright. Kyle teleported them past electric traps notated on the map. Several times, they heard crashing noises coming from the direction they came in, evidence that Toxica and Axel were still in combat.

"I can walk now," Ashley eventually said.

Kyle let her stand on her own. "We're almost there," he let her know.

"Kay."

Their progress was still slow, but Ashley felt better not having to be supported. Besides, Kyle was still healing from Crateron's battle, like her.

"This one," Kyle said, gesturing at a closed door. He reached out to open it.

"You _sure_ it's not booby trapped?" Ashley said warily.

Kyle paused and examined the door closely. "You know, I think it is," he said, psychicking the door open. "Good call."

The pair stepped inside. "Is this a surgical room or just a room of outdated computers?" Ashley wondered.

"It's definitely not the room they took you," Kyle mentioned.

"You can tell?" It looked pretty similar to her… although she'd only seen it before the operation.

"Yeah. That took ten minutes to find; I remember where that is."

"Ten minutes?!"

Kyle laughed and switched one of the computers on. "Yeah. Aj couldn't believe it."

"Why ten minutes?"

He shrugged. "I was distracted," he said distantly, typing into the computer.

_Weird_, thought Ashley. But she didn't interrupt his computer hacking.

* * *

><p>Axel blasted feathery pieces of energy at Toxica, who dodged yet again. He countered a four-element slashing combination with his swords. "Dang," he said, breathing heavily, "You're better than I thought."<p>

She smiled grimly. "I've been training nonstop for the last few weeks. I should be."

They pushed away their lock and stood facing each other. "Yeah, but you're evading Getsu Taiho that easily," he said.

"In English?"

"The… feathery thing."

"So? It's not like it's that fast."

This seemed to strike a nerve with Axel – a MAJOR nerve. Without warning, he hurled a combination of water and feathery blades at her. There wasn't nearly enough time to dodge it, and yet… Toxica did.

"Slowpoke," she taunted. "Wanna see my full speed?"

Narrowing his eyes, Axel set himself in a fighting stance. "Bring it on."

She pounced. There was no other word for it: her claw usage went past a cat's. Axel parried every blow he could, but still some hits got through his defenses. He found himself flying backwards, knocked back by a cross poison that hit him right in the stomach. From the ground he shot water at her, only for her to sidestep as easily as if he'd thrown a wad of paper her way.

_This shouldn't be happening_, Axel thought, holding a hand to his stomach. _That's… her speed is like, OVER 9000…_

"What did you do?" he spat, "sell your soul to the devil?"

"Close. Power swapped to raise my speed." Toxica grinned. "Many, many times."

She leaped at him again, managing to scratch a poison-infused welt across his face. Axel scrambled to his feet, trying to remember what Ashley'd told him about power swapping.

_It's trading one stat for another, right? So if her speed's this high… another stat must be equally low…_

He slashed his swords at her the next time she came near. Instead of following through with her metallic dragon claw, Toxica blocked his dual swords from hitting her. Axel feinted right and swung his left sword at her shoulder. She drew back, but not before it nicked her upper arm.

The intense grimace that shot through Toxica's face didn't match the degree of the injury at all. Axel glanced at the cut – it was shallow, just barely more than a scrape.

Toxica swiped her claws at him. He deflected them with one sword and swung the other at her. She darted out of reach.

Axel pulled water from the air and sent it at Toxica in Tsukiren Suigetsu. She leered as it swooped right past her without her even dodging. "What?!" Axel said loudly, launching a second water blast that missed her by a foot.

Toxica was laughing while he kept shooting things at her and missing. Axel shot Getsu Taihos at her too, but those missed just as badly as the water attacks.

"What the _h*ll_?" he yelled.

Grinning, Toxica raised her claws. She had charged them with an impossible number of moves. Crush claw, night slash, dragon claw, psycho cut, leaf blade, poison claw…

"You wish," Axel said.

All the attacks that had missed Toxica came swooping back. She flinched, the stored claw attack dissipating with a flash, and found feathers and water swirling around her. There wasn't enough of an opening for her to get out.

"I'll still be conscious after this hits," she said in a low growl. Axel vaguely thought she looked exactly like a caged tiger.

"I doubt that," he said, raising his swords. "Seeing as you lowered your defense far enough for a little scratch to hurt like that."

Axel slashed twice across her stomach, slitting her black shirt. She fell backwards through the water and feathers and hit the ground. The Getsu Taiho/Tsukiren Suigetsu combination vanished.

Crouching before her, Axel checked to make sure she wasn't mortally wounded. She was breathing. Yes. Good. The cuts across Toxica's abdomen were already healing, though she didn't show any signs of coming to.

"Why would you do something like that?" Axel muttered. "You only set yourself up for failure by lowering your defense."

Shaking his head in disdain, Axel straightened up and leaned against the wall. He couldn't go to Ashley and Kyle because he didn't know where the hallway traps were. All he could do until they returned was wait.

_It's a shame her defense was so low_, Axel thought. _That could have been a really great fight._

* * *

><p>"I'd have to guess this isn't going well?"<p>

Maylene gave Kevin a grimace. "Sure isn't. We thought we were saved when the first one flew away – I think it took you with it – but it came back with like, five more and OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD." She ran away suddenly and punched some Unovan bird in the neck before it could attack a trainer.

"They've gotten more vicious," she said, coming back. "Before they mostly went for pokemon, but now nobody's safe."

"I've noticed," Kevin said, taking note of Maylene's cut lip and bloodstained shoulder. "Has anyone come up with a way to stop the 'copters?"

"Not yet. Honestly, we're kinda busy avoiding them instead." Maylene glanced left. "Lucario, behind you!"

Her lucario looked up and jumped away from the magnezone crashing down on him. He kicked at the giant steel type, which had fallen hard enough to get stuck in the ground.

"At any rate," Maylene said, directing Kevin's attention back to her, "anyone who's gotten close enough to the 'copters to have a chance at figuring it out…"

She trailed off.

"…aren't all living?" Kevin guessed in a low voice.

Maylene bit her lip and nodded.

"Well," he said, "Once Ashley and Kyle shut the computer in Snowpoint off, we won't have to worry about it anymore."

The distraught expression on Maylene's face startled him. "Not all the energy is from the receivers, though! A lot of it's the energy it picks up from our attacks!"

Kevin froze. "Wait, so–"

"Our 'copter problem isn't solved," Maylene said grimly. "Weakened. A bit. But not solved at all."

* * *

><p>"Okay," said Kyle, shutting the computer down. "It's off."<p>

"Can't they just turn it back on?"

"Nah. I blocked it off with everything I could."

"So I guess we're done here?"

"Yep."

Kyle took her hand and teleported them both back to the hallway. Axel, who was still there, jumped as they appeared in front of them.

"No warning or anything?" he yelped.

"Nope. I see you beat Toxica."

He shrugged. "Yeah. What are we supposed to do with her?"

They decided to bring her to the Snowpoint police department. Kyle teleported Toxica out ahead of the other two. Axel and Ashley walked back through the headquarters and ascended the ladder manually to find Kyle alone at the top.

"Where's Toxica?"

"Police station."

"That was fast."

"I teleported right to it."

"You've been there before?" Ashley wondered.

"It was a long time ago," Kyle confirmed. "So where are we going next?"

"I think I'll go to Eterna, if you guys are okay with that," Axel decided.

Ashley and Kyle exchanged a look.

"Probably depends on where we're going," Kyle said.

"The power plant would probably be a good idea," Ashley mentioned. "In case Mike and Aj need help."

"Sure," agreed Kyle. "Axel, I guess you're in Eterna, then."

Axel gave a salute and suddenly had wings. The feathers shone bright silver as he took off. "See you guys later," he yelled, flying south.

"Guess he didn't bring his motorbike," Ashley murmured.

"Hm?"

"Nothing. When did you go to the police station?" wondered Ashley.

"Just a few seconds ago."

"I mean the first time."

"Oh." Kyle thought about it. "Kevin was in Snowpoint with me when he went missing. Aj found him in Hearthome late at night."

"Ah, that. Didn't she…"

"Kill the abductor? Yeah." Kyle said this quietly.

"Heart of steel, huh? Guess she proved herself tough enough," mentioned Ashley.

Kyle nodded.

Ashley paused, then said, "Do you think… d'you think we can still win, even though the prophecy's against it already?"

Kyle blinked. "What do you mean?"

Ashley pointed to her eyes.

"Oh. The eyes of a dragon…" Kyle thought about it. "I wouldn't worry."

"Kyle, the _prophecy_–"

"Could still be wrong." The two were facing each other. "The only reason we're all worrying about the prophecy in the first place is because Syzygy is targeting us for it. It could still end up being sleep talk nonsense."

Ashley bit her lip. "Not many people sleep talk in rhymes."

"Maybe Cynthia does."

"And it just so _happens_ to be right as someone mentions the lack of big problems in Sinnoh."

"It doesn't even make _sense_ though," Kyle said. "Heart of steel that can resist the conquering feel? What good is that?"

"Sure, but–" Ashley began.

"Mind of a fighter to vanquish all after – after what? After the fight's over? It's useless then!"

"Kyle–"

"Two wings of lightning that confuse the fighting, okay, that's a little more relevant, but that's momentary–"

"Kyle–"

"Eyes of a dragon to spot the heart's worst abrasion, that sounds like a bad attempt at sounding cool, and all it's done is get us all worked up about you not having dragon eyes anymore–"

"Kyle…"

"And who _knows_ what the dark's brightest light is–"

"Kyle Josh Delta," Ashley said, frustrated, "I wasn't looking for this when I brought up the dragon eye issue."

Kyle stopped. He sighed and said, "Yeah… I'm not even sure I believe what I'm saying. I think I'm trying to convince myself it can't be true."

The two Lynches stood in silence for a moment, snow falling around them. Eventually Ashley spoke. "So… The power plant."

Kyle nodded. "Where we landed the first time we flew there."

"Kay."

They vanished.

* * *

><p>"This place shrank since the last time we came through," Mike whispered.<p>

"I think we're going a different way," Aj replied, the aurasphere in her hand wobbling dangerously. "Less edges to cut our hands on."

"Ha ha. It still gets where we need to go, right?"

"Pretty sure… Hey, yeah, we're here."

The pair crawled into the main room and straightened up. Mike looked around. "So where do we go from here?"

Aj scanned the room. Pieces of what looked like energy receivers lay everywhere. It didn't seem like anyone had come to clean up.

"Maylene said the shaft was high up, right?"

They both looked up.

"How do we get up there?!"

Mike thought about it. "Okay, I'll go here…" He moved behind Aj, who turned to face him. "No, like…" He walked around Aj, who turned with him. They both looked at each other, confused.

"Um… can you… can you turn around?" Mike asked.

Still puzzled, Aj made a 360 degree turn.

"No, I mean the other way."

She turned a 360 the other way.

"…that wasn't it…"

Suddenly Aj understood. " OHHH. I GEDDIT LOLZ SMILEY FACE HASHTAG NEVERMIND."

Mike gave her a funny look. "Are you okay?"

"Course I am." She turned her back to him.

Mike transformed into flying type and threaded his arms underneath hers. Flapping his wings, he managed to lift them higher and higher into the air.

"Shizzlesticks!"

Mike heard a crashing noise just before the room was plunged into darkness. Aj had dropped the light.

"If they didn't know we were here before, they sure know now," she muttered.

"It's probably okay. Can you make another? I can't see."

Aj lit another, illuminating the metal tunnel just over their heads. Mike flew up so that they were level with it.

"Okay… so…" Mike murmured. Aj saw the problem: if she crawled in, she would have to extinguish the aurasphere. Pulling yourself into a tunnel 20 feet above the ground in the dark sounded like a plan for disaster.

Aj flicked the one pokeball from her belt. Her lucario materialized down on the floor. "Luoir, can you light up the room?"

"Got it." A second blue light flickered to life below them. Luoir looked around. "Arceus, this place is a mess."

Aj let the aurasphere in her hands die out. Mike helped her get into the shaft, then climbed in after her. He went into normal form.

"Can you get Luoir back for me?" she asked, handing him the pokeball.

As he did that, Aj started to crawl through. It seemed to her like one of those heating vents you see people crawling through in movies, except sturdier and just big enough for someone to fit through comfortably, like it was meant for that purpose.

_Kind of inconvenient to have an entrance so high up, though_, she thought.

She heard Mike following her through the tunnel, though she couldn't see him. The duct was too small to turn around in, so they'd have to crawl backwards if it turned out to be a dead end.

Luckily, the metal beneath her hands and knees grew warmer as she and Mike moved in that direction – not significantly, but enough that Aj knew something was up ahead. They rounded a few more corners and Aj found light shining in her face.

"So that's why we could see up here," she realized.

Clambering out of the shaft, Aj and Mike looked around. A dim fluorescent light flickered overhead, and the one desktop computer in the room was on.

Mike went straight to the desktop, clicking away from the page that was up and typing in a few commands. "It's nice that someone left it on," he said, kneeling in front of it. "Less passwords to get through."

It wasn't until Mike was almost finished that Aj realized something else. "Why is the _light_ in this room on?"

Mike froze and looked up, as if the fluorescent rods in the ceiling would tell him the answer. "That… probably isn't good. Let's get out of here soon," he said quickly.

He finished a few last things and clicked back to the page the screen had originally been on. Mike got up to leave… and then looked back at the screen. Aj glanced at it and tensed.

" 'Aj and Mike! See you guys in a few minutes'," Aj read out loud.

Mike seemed at a loss for words. "Let's… let's get out…" he finally said.

They scrambled to get into and through the duct. When they reached the end, they realized they'd done it wrong.

"You should be in front of me, huh?" said Aj.

Mike groaned and swore.

Aj looked around. The shaft was small, but maybe there was enough room…

"Do you think you can get past me?" she wondered.

He looked forward. "Think so… it'll be tight."

"Okay, go. Hurry."

Aj pressed herself against the side of the shaft. Mike came up beside her, growing slower as he passed her. He paused when his shoulders were right at hers – more accurately, when their shoulders were smushed side by side in the duct.

"I'm gonna fall off the edge and get my wings out in midair," he told her in a low voice. "I'll come back for you."

"Kay," said Aj.

He didn't go for a few more seconds. Aj absorbed the closeness of him while he was there. Mike took a deep breath, as though it was an enormous effort, reached for the ledge and pulled himself towards it. Even in the dark, Aj noticed the worry on his face – was it worry or fear? The matching expression on her own face was a bit of both. It occurred to Aj that back when Mike fought Toxica at Syzygy's place in Eterna, he'd made sure they'd wait for him because he was afraid – truly afraid – of losing the fight. No one can be brave always.

Mike pitched himself headfirst off the ledge. Aj held her breath, despite knowing he'd be fine.

There was a bang, a flash, a scream of pain, a sickening thud. Aj froze in horror.

_The height of the entrance isn't so inconvenient when you have wings…_

"Aj?" Iro's voice called up to her. "Are you still there?"

Aj didn't say a word.

Something flared below her – an electric lantern. Silver glasses glimmered at her, framing a pair of green eyes with metallic flecks. He was in Bankai – no big surprise there, seeing how much Iro loved that form. And how much he loved his gun.

Looking directly below the opening to the shaft, Aj found Mike sprawled on the metal ground. His wings were out, already spread to catch the air and swoop back up to get her. One was partway folded beneath him.

The lighting shifted; Iro put down the lantern. His elemental rifle was still out as he flew to Aj. Iro flew jerkily, not at all like the graceful way Mike flew with his bird wings.

Iro held out a hand. Aj recoiled and transformed into Bankai. With a huff, Iro pointed his rifle downwards. "Come on. I'd rather not shoot him quite yet."

The trip down wasn't anything like Aj had expected it to be a minute ago. She gripped Iro's arm and he zoomed backwards, pulling her off the edge. Aj gasped and tensed, expecting him to drop her. He didn't.

Iro lowered her slowly. When Aj's feet touched the ground, he took his arm away and darted through the air towards Mike.

"Hey!" Aj shot a quick water pulse at him. Iro ducked, letting the attack crash into the wall.

He glared and pulled Mike upright. Aj noticed a red stain in Mike's folded wing – the injury the blood had come from was almost healed. If he was healing, he was alive for sure.

"The fact that he had his wings out made the landing softer," Iro mentioned. "It could have been worse."

Iro stuck his gun into a holster on his back and whipped his hand into a shimmering silver metal claw. Leveling it at Mike's throat, he said cheerily, "So how've you been, Aj?"

_That_ was what he chose to say, with a blade at Mike's throat? "I've been better," she said coldly.

"Ah, well," Iro said mildly. "Mind following me?"

"Yes."

Iro looked at her blankly. "You realize I can kill your friend in an instant."

"You wouldn't."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"You need the wings of lightning. Can't do that when he's dead."

Iro nodded towards Mike's wings. "The wings are right here."

"He'd have to be in Bankai for the wings of lightning."

Iro shook his head. "Ashley lost her eyes in every form when we took them in dragon type. We decided the form doesn't matter. So this should work just fine."

Aj's eyes narrowed. "You still wouldn't. You'd lose your way of luring me to… wherever."

Iro looked her right in the eye. "Do you really think that, Ai Jie Ferra?"

Aj's immediate response was a yes, but then she realized he _knew her name._ Not even the Frontier Brains knew it. She insisted everyone call her Aj because Ai Jie meant love and excellence, and she'd always disliked that. It seemed too corny, like the name was trying too hard to compliment her. The fact that Iro knew her full name… how…?

And finally Aj saw it. The boy who was her enemy, who'd killed people without a second thought, who'd tried to kill her friends multiple times… he had a crush on her. He'd struck her as the type without a strong sense of morals; she wouldn't have been surprised if he'd been stalking her.

She saw the tightness he held Mike with – did Iro know she liked Mike? Then he'd be jealous of him. And without that morality… would he really hesitate to murder Mike?

"Do you?"

Aj looked into Iro's serious green eyes. "I don't," she said slowly.

His mouth, but not his eyes, smiled. "All right. Follow me, then."

He waited for Aj to be five feet from him before he turned and started to walk out of the main room, still holding on to Mike. Aj didn't hesitate. She collected water from the air and launched a monster water pulse at Iro's back. It exploded on him, knocking him forward. Without a moment to spare, Aj dashed forward, scooping up a stray piece of metal from an energy receiver, and slashed the back of Iro's wrist with razor shell. He yelped, the metal claw on that hand dissipating, and immediately found himself flying backwards, soaked in a hydro pump.

Coughing, he worked at getting the air back into lungs. It was then that he realized Mike was no longer in his grasp – over by the wall, Aj was laying Mike down.

When she looked up, the anger in her eyes sent a chill down Iro's spine.

"You bastard," she spat. "You *bleep*_ing_ bastard."

Iro froze for a moment, then got to his feet and pulled out his rifle. He aimed it at Mike.

"Don't you _dare_." Aj snarled, smashing the blast into nothingness with a bright cobalt razor shell. Iro looked shocked.

"How did… How did you manage…"

Aj rushed at him. Iro had barely enough time to put up a metal claw to block it, and it still knocked him back. Aj came right back in with the razor shell.

Aj struck, he blocked. Iro was constantly on the defensive, unable to fit an attack of his own between Aj's. Aj's scrap metal razor shell finally hit, slashing him across the chest. Iro jumped back and put his hand to the wound.

"You… you countered the bullet," Iro said. "That was incredibly dense energy you crushed."

"Aj!" The two Lynches turned their heads to find Ashley and Kyle coming in.

Iro paled. Shooting one last look at Aj, he zoomed through a jagged hole in the wall.

"Uh…" Ashley looked at Aj. "Should we be chasing him?"

Aj shook her head. "No. We'll meet up with him again at some point."

Kyle had noticed Mike and gone over. Examining him, Kyle said, "Wing was shot through, concussion. Thank Arceus he's a Lynch."

Aj nodded, idly tossing her piece of metal aside. Her strength in the fight had come from anger; she had no doubt.

_I think I found my vindica_, Aj thought, _and it's thanks to the same person who helped me find my Bankai._

_How in heck did that happen._

* * *

><p><strong>It occurred to me as I began the chapter that Eterna City isn't in the south of Sinnoh like I thought. It's actually pretty far north.<strong>

**...**

**Pretend it's fine. Just don't look at a map while you're reading this. If there was any confusion though, this was to clear it up.**

**Kyle's middle name came from his old character name, in the pre-EOAD story I wrote with most of the same people.**

**Anyone have a remedy to an extreme need for a hug? It's gotten so bad I've started dreaming of a hug in my sleep...**

**Hope ya liked it, review to help me grow as a writer and stuff. Or just review for fun.**


	25. Targets and Telepathy

**YEAAAAAAA SUCCEEEEEEESS!**

**I was trying to get this out before the final competition of the marching season. Challenge completed with one day to spare! :D**

**Okay here you go.**

* * *

><p>"Quilava, we're running again," Dawn yelled crossly.<p>

Her pokemon abandoned the fight against an ursaring and fled from the sound of a 'copter approaching. Dawn ran after him for the seventh time that day.

This was _really_ getting old. Now that Buneary was knocked out, Dawn didn't have a pokemon who could fight easily without elemental energy. Mamoswine, maybe, but the northern forest was so dense he wouldn't have been able to move. She and Quilava were running around trying to avoid 'copters so that Quilava could fight. This seemed to be the common strategy for what was left of the division, at least anyone who didn't have a normal or fighting type.

Every few minutes, a blast would sound. The explosions weren't nearly as often as they'd been half an hour ago – probably because people were actively avoiding the 'copters now – but Dawn still periodically stumbled over a body wearing either travel clothes or the Syzygy uniform. Even Syzygy's own weren't safe from the blasts. Other times it was a pokemon. A squad of kirlia were teleporting the wounded to various available pokemon centers…

_But not everyone can be helped,_ Dawn thought grimly.

The northern division was growing sparse from the many trainers and pokemon evacuated to hospitals. People were dying, the 'copters were chasing them in circles, and one of those Unovan water birds were divebombing Quilava.

"Eruption–"

Quilava was just about to fire the move when a shot of electricity crashed into the bird instead. Squawking, the swanna zoomed away, and Dawn looked behind her to find Kevin.

"Over there!" he yelled. His jolteon shocked a pokemon behind Dawn: the ursaring from before.

"Quilava, flamethrower!" she shouted.

The ursaring stood up to both hits, but not Needle's follow-up volt tackle.

"I just got back. Mind if I stick with you?" Kevin asked.

"Sure."

* * *

><p>Steely gray eyes scanned the landscape in front of her. With her infrared glasses switched on, there was nothing she couldn't see.<p>

A smudge of yellow orange twitched below and to her right. She tensed, but it was just a feral eevee tunneling out of its burrow.

She shrugged and looked away. It was only a matter of time.

They wouldn't be able to hide.

* * *

><p>A call from Volkner informed them that they should go to the northern division instead of their individual assigned ones. Ashley was a bit nervous about that – she hadn't seen her pokemon in hours – but otherwise had no complaint.<p>

"Ready?" Kyle said.

"Yup," Ashley replied, gripping Aj's shoulder. Mike, who had just woken up, was with Kyle.

They teleported and faint attacked to Eterna Forest. Kyle immediately let go of Mike, staggering and clutching his head. Ashley leaned against the nearest tree, breathing hard. The distance had been less than Sunyshore to Snowpoint, but with the added people it felt twice as far.

Mike looked around. "Where are they?"

Aj, the other unaffected-by-the-travel Lynch, scanned the sky. " 'Copters over there," she stated, pointing to their left.

"Are you guys all right?" Mike wondered.

Ashley raised her head. "Never… been better," she gasped. Kyle hadn't let go of his head.

"Come on, man. You've got the mind of a fighter," Mike joked.

Ashley recovered first, although she was still exhausted. "Here," she said to Kyle, "I'll support you."

She looped one of his arms around her shoulder. Mike took Kyle's other arm, and Aj led the way towards the battle.

* * *

><p>"Quilava, let's go!"<p>

Kevin looked bewildered. "Why are you running away?"

" 'Copter's coming. Quilava fights with fire energy."

"So we're just gonna run away every time one of those comes near?"

Dawn looked apologetic. "It's what everyone else is doing. No one has a better solution."

"Well, ideally the 'copters could be taken out."

"How?"

Kevin had no idea. Then a pair of fearow swooped in on them and they dropped the conversation.

* * *

><p>Kyle looked up suddenly – so suddenly he winced and clutched his head. "Guys, there's a–"<p>

**BOOM!**

A cloud of dust and debris flew up from where the 'copter's energy missile hit. "Duck!" yelled Aj.

Ashley wasn't sure what ducking would do, but she got close to the ground and covered her head.

The cloud hit them like a wave, threatening to blow Ashley over even though she was already near the ground. When it cleared, she rubbed sand out of her eyes and looked around.

Aj was standing up, brushing dust off her shirt. Mike was sneezing wildly. He and Ashley had let go of Kyle a few minutes ago, letting him walk on his own.

Ashley's chest froze. "Where's Kyle?"

* * *

><p>"Okay, this guy is really getting on my nerves," Dawn said in annoyance.<p>

She was referring to the constantly iron-defensing set of gears they were fighting. It was like a magnezone, except magnezones can't pinch your finger if you touch it accidentally. This one in particular had been glimmering silver on and off for the last five minutes, steadily boosting its defense and making it more and more difficult to hurt.

"Its defense will peak at some point," Kevin mentioned, shooting an aurasphere at the klingklang. Needle followed up with a beam of electricity that suddenly disappeared before reaching the gear pokemon.

"Quilava, let's go," said Dawn, starting to run. She stopped when she realized Kevin hadn't budged. "Kevin?"

He was looking up at the nearing 'copter with a thoughtful look on his face. Needle yelped and quick attacked the klingklang to prevent it from tackling Kevin.

The aura guardian noticed. "Sorry, Needle. Let's go."

As they ran, he was still wondering…

_Pokemon have stat boost and charge limits… shouldn't the 'copter have a limit to its energy capacity?_

* * *

><p>Aj's eyelids were shut so tight, they burned. "I can't find him," she finally said, rubbing her eyes.<p>

Ashley's heart sank. She had no doubts what had happened to Kyle. Even if Syzygy had never captured him before.

"So, if we can't find him, then what?" Mike thought out loud. Hearing his mild, let's-move-on-and-forget-this tone, Ashley glared at him reproachfully. But she found worry in his expression, too.

_He's only being logical_, she reminded herself.

Stifling the growing fear in her heart, she said, "We should probably go on with our original plan. The division is still doing poorly, even if Kyle's gone."

Aj was stunned. If it had been Mike, would she have been able to… no, she wouldn't have been able to do the same…

"So… this way?" Mike decided, gesturing towards the heart of the northern territory.

Ashley nodded.

"Are you sure?" Aj cut in.

Ashley seemed surprised. "Well, yeah. We gotta keep going, right?"

"Okay, let's go then." Mike started for the fight. Ashley and Aj (who was still bewildered) were close behind.

* * *

><p>"Quilava–"<p>

"Needle, return–"

They'd waited too long. Needle came back to Kevin's pokeball just before the energy blasted towards where he'd been, where Quilava still was–

**BOOM!**

Kevin found himself flying through the air. His head struck a tree and he fell to the ground, dazed.

Head throbbing, he staggered to his feet. The last blast wasn't as strong as past ones – he guessed Syzygy's energy receivers had been shut off – but the force of it was still–

"QUILAVA!"

Kevin found Dawn in the middle of a patch of dirt, the brush surrounding her blasted away by the 'copter. A shallow cut across her cheek showed she had fallen on her face. She was screaming.

In her arms lay a singed mass of fur. Quilava's eyes were closed, fur blackened, flames shut off. Kevin searched for life and came up with…

nothing…

"Oh no," Dawn whispered, the swell of hope that made her quiet shattering when she saw his expression.

He couldn't take his eyes away from the body in Dawn's arms. _The 'copters_, he thought, _the 'copters need to be stopped. They did this to Quilava and so many others._

The sky over their heads was clear of aircraft, the 'copter having flown away to recharge elemental energy. "C'mon," Kevin said suddenly, pulling Dawn to her feet.

"Where are we going?" Her voice barely made it out of her throat.

"We're going to collect trainers," Kevin said, anger brimming in his voice. "I've got an idea for stopping the 'copters."

* * *

><p>They ran into two men partway through their journey. Mike recognized one. "Aren't you C?" he remembered.<p>

J's henchman grinned. "The one and only."

"You're not in Syzygy," Ashley stated bluntly.

The other man opened his mouth to respond. C growled, "Don't say a word, P," and the man shut up.

"Anyway, Bisharp." C tossed out a pokeball with a clearly Unovan pokemon inside. P sent out an eelektross without speaking, staying true to C's command. "I was thinking we'd fight," said C.

Aj pulled out Luoir's pokeball. "You guys move on."

"Can't."

It was Mike. Aj groaned. "Stop being the sacrificial hero. You've done enough of that."

"You're strong, we need you to be in good shape still when we find Kyle–"

"Aren't you strong, too?" Aj raised her eyebrows. "And aren't you the one who doesn't recover as easily?"

"When I'm in _Bankai_."

"Plus you got knocked on the head at the power plant."

"I've recovered from that," Mike protested, "and I can catch up to you guys faster, I have wings–"

"I'm not _slow_. And I can sense you with aura and not spend hours circling the sky looking for you guys," Aj interrupted.

"Aj, if this doesn't go well, you're the only one who can track us. It can't be you."

"There's still Kevin," Aj said.

"But we don't–"

"Kevin's that way," Aj let him know, pointing off into the distance. "He can find Kyle, too."

Mike fell silent, for once out of reasons. "Don't get hurt," he said, a surprising softness in his voice.

"Don't _worry_," Aj replied, turning her back to them.

There was a moment of hesitation in what Mike did next. But he still followed through and hugged Aj from behind. Aj's hand reflexively moved towards the arms around her shoulders, but didn't connect.

When Mike detached himself, his face was dead serious. "Let's go," he said to Ashley, voice low.

Aj watched them go for a second, unsure what to think. When she sent out Luoir and joined the lucario in fighting C and P's pokemon, she was still trying to figure it out. What did Mike mean when he…? Was he just concerned as a friend or…? Should she risk getting her hopes up…?

P's eelektross paralyzed Luoir. Without a second thought – albeit with a slight grimace – Aj withdrew her pokemon.

She heard a sound like a gunshot. Something made impact.

* * *

><p>Kevin scanned the group he'd collected. Four trainers in addition to him and Dawn, twelve conscious pokemon between them. Dawn was still holding her quilava to her chest, refusing to let go of him every time they passed a kirlia.<p>

"Think this is enough people?" Dawn said, her voice listless.

Kevin drew the verdict. "Yeah. C'mon, let's find a 'copter."

It wasn't hard – with six of them together, they were the densest cluster of League trainers around.

"First pokemon out," Kevin said tensely.

Besides Mamoswine and Needle, there was a froslass, electabuzz, altaria, and dragonite. No one was saving a strong pokemon for later.

"Now!"

A blur of attacks were called ("Thunder!" "Dragonbreath!" "Blizzard!") and all six pokemon shoved forward their arsenal of energy. Mamoswine did something weird like eat an ice shard before attacking, making his subsequent ice shards bigger and more powerful. Kevin added his own auraspheres to the mix.

The 'copter was gaining energy at an alarmingly high rate. Kevin noticed a shining bunch of white energy converging at the base of the weapon.

"Get away!" he hollered.

They scattered; a moment later the blast knocked them all off their feet.

"You guys okay?" yelled one trainer, a tall guy named Ian.

Five human, six pokemon voices called confirmation, even Dawn's shaky one.

"Bring another pokemon out if you've got one," Kevin yelled, gripping Chira's pokeball. Three other flashes of light occurred; the other two were down to their final pokemon. The 'copter hovered overhead like a curious bird.

"Okay, go!" Kevin shouted.

The energy receiver on the 'copter only filled up faster this time.

"Okay," Kevin huffed once they'd all recovered from the shot. "We need to fill up the receiver before it can fire."

"Bring everyone out?" suggested a short, dark-haired girl whose name was either Anna or Emma.

"Yes please."

Two flashes of light – no more pokemon than that.

"Get your attacks ready," Kevin said, speaking directly to the pokemon.

They did so, gathering energy in their hands or paws or mouths in preparation for the launch. Kevin watched as the pokemons' auras scraped up as much energy as they could hold, a few almost taking from their aura, their own life force.

_Amazing that they'll do that for this cause_.

Focusing his own aura energy (less life-draining since he was a guardian) between his palms, he created an aurasphere dense enough to just about match some of the pokemon's attacks, and he yelled–

"Go!"

Energy of all forms zoomed at the 'copter, which ate it up like a starving snorlax. Kevin was actually too busy firing auraspheres to notice–

**BOOM!**

But it was a different kind of explosion. Past ones had occurred on the ground, around trainers and pokemon, while this one was high in the sky.

Kevin watched in amazement as pieces of the 'copter's weapon sailed down around them, the 'copter itself sinking to the ground several yards away. It took him several seconds to realize that the other trainers and pokemon were cheering, and that _they had done it_.

"You guys up for beating the rest?" he asked, knowing what their answer would be.

* * *

><p>They couldn't find Kevin.<p>

"She probably pointed in a random direction just to make us leave," muttered Mike.

"Kevin's unlikely to stay still," Ashley pointed out. "Seeing as there's a fight going on."

Somewhere off to their left came a

**BOOM!**

"THE SOUND EFFECTS ARE NOT FUNNY!" Mike shouted.

**I know that, I'm writing them cause the boom **_**happened**__._

"Oh," mumbled Mike.

"You're a bit high-strung," mentioned Ashley.

"Of course I am," he said back, sounding tense.

Ashley was puzzled. "Of course?"

"Arceus, Ashley, you're blind." He didn't elaborate.

They kept walking.

"Oh, Kyle and Aj?"

Mike flinched.

"Kyle can make it, and Aj'll be fine on her own."

Mike looked back towards the spot they'd left Aj. "Yeah…"

In a few minutes, they reached a place where shards of metal littered the ground. A wrecked, pilotless helicopter lay a short distance to the side.

Ashley put two and two together. "This was the explosion we heard earlier! They stopped the 'copter!"

Mike examined the bottom of the grounded 'copter. "It looks like it blew up from within… an energy overload, maybe?"

The thrum of helicopter blades grew in Ashley's ears.

"I hope you're right, cause we're not alone," she said, bringing out Infade's pokeball. Shiolu appeared beside Mike.

They transformed briefly – Mike to electric, Ashley to dragon. "Ready?" Mike asked.

"Set," she confirmed.

There wasn't a "go" involved. The Lynches and pokemon launched energy at the 'copter, which started to back away. Maybe it had seen what happened to the last 'copter–"

"DISPEEEEERSE!" Ashley yelled, diving into the bushes.

**BOOM!**

"Disperse?" coughed Mike, crawling out from behind a tree. "_Disperse?_"

"Shut up."

Their second attempt, faster and more compact in energy, made the energy storing-weapon burst like a water balloon. The four ducked as bits of metal and glass rained down on them.

The smoldering 'copter began to sink. A flash of red light next to it materialized into a huge dragon. Someone leaped out of the 'copter onto the salamence's back.

"Oh, Arceus," Mike said, shocked.

The cannon on J's wrist fired. Mike ducked, letting the tree behind him absorb the blast.

"Dang it," Ashley huffed, "I liked it better when you were all vanquished and stuff."

J's salamence swooped down and let her jump off. "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." She grinned. "If _your_ wish came true, you'd end up alive."

Infade applauded. "Poetry. Fun."

"She plagiarized half of it," Ashley pointed out, "and that wasn't a _wish_, it was a statement. Don't assume things."

"Can we get on with the fight?" Shiolu cut in.

"Certainly. Salamence, hyper beam."

They scattered; the beam of energy blew a ten-square-foot patch of forest into oblivion. "Shiolu, fight without command!" Mike ordered his luxray.

"Infade, same for you!"

Salamence withstood a formidable double thunder from the two electric types, and recovered from his hyper beam paralysis with enough time to swipe at Infade's fire punch with a dragon claw. Ashley hurled a draco meteor into the sky, but the dragon type used a protect to block the rain of missiles from above.

With an earsplitting roar, Salamence breathed flames at Infade, who was still close. Even with fire resistance, it looked like a huge blow.

Rushing forward with dragon claw, Ashley slashed at the dragon's shoulder and side, cutting through tough, scaly skin. In a few seconds, she noticed he wasn't trying to attack her back. It wasn't like her dragon claws were anything minor, either – the wounds were bleeding, and it was _dragon-on-dragon_, for crying out loud. But he seemed more interested in air slashing Infade and dragonbreathing Shiolu.

Shiolu yowled suddenly and collapsed, pin needles vanishing from his fur. J's ariados skittered back into the brush.

"Shiolu, return," Mike said quickly, recalling the luxray to his pokeball.

Infade wasn't doing well under the ceaseless flying moves of the salamence as well as J's volcarona. As Ashley watched, the infernape pulled her trump card: a simultaneous overheat and blast burn. Ashley drew back from the intense heat; Salamence hissed as it hit him, the flames licking at the gashes in his shoulder. Then, flapping his huge wings, he flew through the thin layer of tree branches overhead. Infade, immobilized by the blast burn, could only watch as Salamence charged straight at her with Fly.

"Return," Ashley called, timing it so that Infade – already knocked out – wouldn't slam into a tree.

She swore the salamence was grinning when it turned on her.

Transforming into Bankai so she would have claws, Ashley swiped a counterstrike at the dragon claw aimed at her. Talons clashed on claws, striking between fractions of seconds, so fast that Ashley's terrible vision didn't matter – if she relied on sight, she would have been too slow. Anticipating the salamence's actions worked better.

But they were too easy to predict. Soon Ashley saw why – with the salamence's sheer size and strength, trickery was unnecessary. Every blocked swipe of his claws sent the force of the hit to her shoulders, the weight of his arm almost worth that of her entire body. Her every effort went into staying upright and fighting.

And then Mike shouted, "No!"

She turned just in time to see the flash of bronze zoom at him. Salamence smashed her side, flinging her to the ground. Wincing at the sharp ache in her ribs, she dug her claws into the ground and pushed herself to her feet. A blurry figure in front of her raised something – an arm, maybe?

The coppery blast hit her straight in the chest. The impact wasn't especially strong, knocking her back just a little. Ashley turned around and slashed Salamence across the face. He hissed without retaliating. Her attack wasn't _that_ big a surprise, was it?

Suddenly she remembered what the bronze blast was supposed to do. She glanced back at J, who was standing by what looked like a bronze statue.

_Why didn't I…_

"Why didn't you–" stuttered J. It was the only time Ashley had ever heard her falter.

Of course. Bankai. Her vindica had activated. Apparently it was more than an impenetrable chest.

J shot her again, luckily at her sternum. After it dispersed, Ashley threaded dark and dragon energy into her claws. "Guess you can't take me."

Hunter J lowered her arm. "Like you said before: don't assume things."

Startled by her words, Ashley tensed but couldn't prepare for the giant cat that landed on her back. Slashing blindly at her attacker, she felt something prick her neck. Electricity surged through her spine – she gasped, her muscles went limp, like a switch inside her had been turned off.

J raised something to her mouth. "C, I need a pickup. We've got them all."

* * *

><p>Candice took a while to pick up. "Kevin, what's going on?"<p>

"I think we – there's six of us – we lost the rest of the division," he said. The others were gathered around his Xtranceiver. "It's too quiet where we are."

Candice sounded distraught. "Kevin, there's hardly anyone left. The northern division is gone. Everyone's either been transported to a pokemon center for treatment or gone to another division or… or passed…"

Kevin took this in. "So… wait, but the HQ isn't surrounded then."

"It is. East and west shifted northward to cover for us. Most of the 'copters are in the east now. You guys should probably head there or something."

"We found a way to beat the 'copters," mentioned Anna (Ian had called her that a few minutes ago).

"Dang," Candice said, impressed. "East really needs you, then. I guess those last few explosions were you guys?"

"All but the last one," Kevin confirmed.

"Nicely done."

"Are you at the east division?"

"Heading there."

"See you there, I guess."

"Are you guys done up there, in the north?" Candice checked.

Kevin looked between the other trainers. Was there anything they forgot? Missed?

"I don't think so."

"Kay. See you soon." An explosion shot the sound of static through the device.

"See you soon. Stay safe."

* * *

><p><em>Hey.<em>

A telepathic groan._ What now?_

_Something's wrong._

_Something's always wrong._

_Really._

_All right, all right. Where should I be heading?_

_Not sure yet. I'll let you know once they stop moving around._

_Oh. I'll figure it out myself, then._

_Kay._

* * *

><p>Ashley guessed it was thunder wave – temporary, usually, but since J's liepard had slid her claws through skin, right by Ashley's spinal cord, she had no idea how long it would last. As of now, she was still numb from the shock. With any luck it wouldn't be fatal, but… well, it's not like this had happened to her before.<p>

And it was incredibly annoying. Besides spider silk covering her feet – just in case – J had left her as she was. Free as a bird, or a dragon, at any rate. But with the paralysis dominating her, she may as well have been encased in stone like Mike.

_Mike_. He'd been petrified before, and now here he was, back in immobility. When they'd been thrown into the back of the truck, Ashley had ended up facing him, and she'd seen his expression, frozen in the second before the shot hit him, twisted in a _this __can't__ be happening _grimace.

She reached out again, looking for Kyle, for Aj, for Kevin. No one responded. They must have been too far away or not paying attention or unconscious or–

_No_, she ordered herself. _They aren't dead. Don't think that. They're all okay._

The truck abruptly jolted to a stop, making Ashley roll onto her frontside. She heard car doors slamming before the back door to the truck came open. Light flooded in, framing C and J.

"Drapion, bring them out," J said, throwing a pokeball.

The poison type that emerged wrapped his claws around statue-Mike and the spikes at the end of his tail around Ashley's torso, beneath her arms. Her legs dangled beneath her; she would have adjusted herself if her muscles were working.

They were in a room of concrete and brick. Fluorescent lights illuminated the mildewed, crumbling walls and cracked floor. One side of the interior consisted of horizontal metal slats that covered an area about the height and width of J's truck – slivers of sunlight peeked in between the hinges.

C heaved open a metal door. _Do we fit?_ Ashley wondered, eyeing the tall pokemon carrying her and Mike.

Drapion did make it through, but by the time they were through the door, Ashley wasn't worrying about that as much.

They were in Iro's room, the one with the tiles. Some looked newer than others, probably having been replaced after the most recent battle in there. They'd come in through a door that – once closed – was barely visible as a random crack in the wall.

J walked right across the tiles – none activated, so they must have been turned off. C punched a series of numbers into a keypad in the wall, making a second hidden door pop open. J led them through the narrow, dimly lit hallway behind it.

Thick doors with tiny bulletproof glass windows lined the walls. Ashley glanced inside a room and found a pair of kids inside, maybe twelve years old each, probably both trainers, huddled together by the far wall.

Her chest constricted.

C slid three keys through a trio of locks on the door at the very end of the hallway. The door swung open.

She hit the ground shoulder first, her head following less painfully. There was still relief in seeing that the two statues already in the room were all right.

_Ashley._

_Hey. I guess we found you guys._

_Are you okay?_

_More or less. Mike's petrified, I'm paralyzed._

_I noticed. Why didn't she statue you?_

_She tried while I was in Bankai. It hit my chest._

Kyle actually laughed. _Nice. You've got the best chance, then._

_You never know. Mike could break out like last time._

Kyle's telepathic voice became serious. _I'm not sure about that. I checked in on him for a sec, and he's sort of freaking out. Aj's trying to calm him down._

_Hm._ Ashley sighed._ With any luck they'll stall._

_Syzygy? They're waiting for the other admins to arrive before they do anything major. We've got at least til then._

_Crateron and Toxica are gone… Aj and Mike didn't happen to bring anyone down at the power plant, did they?_

_No. They fought Iro, but we saw him leave._

_We're waiting on quite a few, then._

_Yeah. For better or for worse._

They were silent for a bit.

Ashley broke the pause. Her mental voice was low. _Who do you think will be first?_

_I don't know_.

He said it immediately, casually, so deliberately that even someone as blind as Ashley could tell he was lying.

…_I think you do._

Kyle groaned_._

_Well?_

_They… I'd have to guess… I don't want to say it would be you, but you're the easiest for them to get over with, they just have to kill you and it would be fast…_

Ashley wasn't sure why she felt so calm about it. _If that's the case, I'll need to tell you something before I die._

She could hear him flinch, even though he was petrified. _What's that?_

_No, like, when I'm about to die._

He sort of breathed out – not a sigh, but something in that general direction. _I hope it won't come to that._

_Yeah, well. Don't get your hopes up too high_, Ashley reminded him grimly.

* * *

><p><em>Mike… Mike, what's wrong?<em>

It was panic that responded to her, wild and pained and scared.

_Mike, calm down, please!_

_can't move, I'm stuck_

_Mike, it's okay. It's just J's stupid statue thing._

His voice became even more frantic. _should've avoided it this time_

_That's__ the problem_, Aj realized without projecting her voice to Mike. _He's remembering the last time J caught him._

To him, she said, _It's okay, Mike. We got out last time, remember?_

_not in time_

_In time?_

His voice was bitter. _in time for you and Ashley, her eyes, it could have been your heart next_

_It'll be okay this time._

_they've got the eyes already, next will be Kyle's mind, or your heart, or_

_Mike._ Aj cut him off before realizing she didn't know what else to say.

_yeah?_ Mike's voice was soft.

She almost said it – the quietness of his voice almost made her. But she swallowed it at the last moment (figuratively; she was a statue) and, instead, told him, _Hang in there. You're strong enough._

He gave a mental scoff-slash-laugh.

_Don't make me say it again. I'm not trying to feed your ego_.

_It's okay. My ego will never be as big as your head._

_Whoa there…_

They continued to bicker. A minute or two later, Aj noted with pride that their friendly banter had done the trick.

* * *

><p><em>Several months previously<em>

Elina Campbell leaned back against the trunk. Her idea of fun wasn't normally babysitting her brother – he was her age anyways, couldn't he go out on his own? – but he was being mildly interesting.

"Ew. What's that one?"

"Caterpie," Ira informed her, holding the wriggling insect between two fingers. "Really young, cuz it's so small."

Elina had never cared for insects, but Ira loved them. "What're you gonna do with them?" she asked, watching Ira drop the caterpie into a bucket holding a multitude of other bug types.

He peeked inside. "I'll show you. I have enough now."

Picking a weedle out of the bucket, he pulled out a pokeball. "Zebstrika, thunder wave."

"Still not seeing what you're trying to do," Elina muttered as the weedle went limp under the electric shock.

"Shush." He retuned his zebstika to the pokeball and took out a steel pocketknife. Holding the weedle against a flat slab of rock, Ira sliced through the bug's exoskeleton.

"Gross," said Elina.

"It's _cool_," Ira protested. "Look."

Elina grudgingly looked.

"You can see a little bug stomach, and… ooh, gotta be careful, most bugs don't have circulatory systems. Hemolymph just floats around everything."

"Hema-what?"

"Bug blood."

"Bug juice?"

"Sure. And so that the hemolymph circulates–" he beckoned her closer to the weedle, who was clearly in pain – "Look. Right there. He's got a tiny heart."

Elina backed up. "Ira… you're so _creepy_."

Ira grinned. "You say that so often, it's lost its meaning."

"Well, you are. You cut open bugs, you stalk the new Arcade Star."

"I'm not stalking her. When people put stuff on the internet, it's cause they want other people to see it."

"She's not the one who posted articles about herself."

"They're free to read, anyway. Did you see that one that says she's not human?"

Elina scoffed. "Stupidest piece of sh*t I've read in a long time."

"Sounds cool, though," said Ira, pulling a potion out of his pocket and spraying the weedle. "Having pokemon powers."

He dropped the weedle – whose incision was mostly healed – back into the bucket. "You do one."

"Gross, no."

"Aw, don't be such a girl."

"No."

"C'mon, I'll even let you do the shiny one."

"Shiny what?" Ira turned the opening of the bucket towards her. Amid the mass of bug types was one with funny yellow appendages and whitish fuzz.

"A larvesta," Elina breathed.

She'd always loved fire types, and the idea of a fire bug had intrigued her. They were rare, even in Unova, and she'd never seen one before.

"Give me your knife."

"No way. Get your own."

With a huff, she scanned the area for a sharp rock. There was one by a nearby tree root; it wasn't great, but it would work.

Elina pulled the larvesta from the bucket and lay it in the rock surface. He squealed as she cut into him, squirming beneath her hands.

_It's louder than the weedle_, Elina noticed.

The larvesta was built a lot like the weedle – the stomach, the blood, the heart, all the other organs present in there. There were some things without a match, like a pair of bright red things.

"Flame sacs," she said in wonder.

The larvesta cried out again and Elina realized Ira's zebstrika hadn't paralyzed the fire bug.

"Sh*t," she hissed when the larvesta turned white and started to grow.

She'd left her pokemon at home.

Ira only had zebstrika, but he wasn't bringing him out. "Relax," he said, "It'll be calm enough–"

The newly evolved, fully healed volcarona shot flame at him.

"Ira!" Elina shrieked, her brother collapsing. "Ohmyarceus…" She ran over and rolled him around on the forest floor, putting out the flames in his clothes and hair.

A screech behind her alerted her to what was about to happen.

She dove out of the way, pulling Ira with her. Shifting Ira into her arms, Elina ran – not noticing the bucket on the ground.

"Aaargh!"

She fell face first onto the rock's surface, dropping her brother and spilling the bucket's contents. Bug types scurried away as fast as they could, probably sensing the volcarona's anger. Turning onto her back, she found the volcarona staring straight at her.

"Arceus, no–"

The bug blasted her with fire. Heat seared her hair, her clothes, her skin. It wasn't flame; it was overheat, pure energy rushing at her–

"Hey! Crate, over here!"

The heat abruptly stopped. Elina dizzily gasped for breath, feeling glued to the rock.

"What is it?"

With a growing sense of horror, she realized she _was _stuck to the rock, which had sort of melted and resolidified around her…

"You can't be serious, Mystor."

How was she even alive?

"Crate, they need help."

Hissing, the volcarona turned on the newcomers. One, a nicely dressed, sandy-haired man threw out a pokeball – no, a mud bomb. A pokemon move.

The last thing Elina saw before blacking out was a young man with a short gray beard running at her, a concerned look on his face.

* * *

><p><strong>Ohoho, backstory? What is this witchcraft?<strong>

**Omniscient third-person is so fun :D**

**"Disperse" comes from my favorite softball team in the world (a rec team), who used to whisper loudly "DISPEEERSE!" whenever a stray pop fly came over to us. Best team ever.**

**Some things may not make realistic sense. I don't really care.**

**I SAW AN OTP KISS ON WEDNESDAY IT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING EVAR. Thought y'all should know.**

**I feel I should mention that following tomorrow, a Saturday, I may be incapacitated of the ability to do anything except lie in bed and cry. The *insert school name here* tournament has the ability to do this to people. So I probably won't write anything until mid-next-week at the earliest. VERY earliest. But we're getting closer and closer to the finish, and the next chapter _will_ come out. Probably sooner than usual, cause marching season's ending. *sniffles***

***bursts into tears***

**S/o my math teacher for not noticing how often I write EOAD in class.**


	26. Taking Chances

**So this was SUPPOSED to come out in December but my mom made me do history homework instead -_- Here it is. Just five days late.**

* * *

><p>Kyle said a choice word telepathically.<p>

_Whoa__ there, mister clean-mouthed_, Aj said, startled. _I thought the worst you ever say is "oh no."_

_They're here_, he said, ignoring her. _The admins._

A chill shot through Ashley. _All of them?_

_No Toxica or Crateron, but that's expected._

Mike was silent for now. He'd more or less been that way ever since Aj had pulled Ashley and Kyle into their aura conversation. But he'd apparently been panicking a while ago. Ashley still couldn't imagine him freaking out. It just didn't fit him.

_How long 'til they reach here?_ Aj wondered.

_They're in the garage place, so they aren't far, but it depends on how long they stand there chatti– Nope, they're coming this way._

Aj swore. Ashley searched for something to say, something encouraging or helpful (heck, _anything_), but she came up with nothing.

Then Mike spoke for the first time. _Guys, no matter what, remember to think._

_Thank you for your faith in us_, Ashley mentally muttered.

_Really, though. Keep your head on straight._

Voices started to echo from down the hall.

_Any other last minute advice?_ Ashley piped up.

_Sound intensity is W/m squared_, Aj said immediately.

_When in doubt, the answer is candela_, Kyle put in.

_King Philip coughed out flem gleefully snorting_, Ashley added.

_You guys are hopeless_, Mike said.

_Never turn to page 72 of Life Science and show Mike_, remembered Ashley.

_It was page 275_, Mike protested.

_You remember the page?_

_Yeah, I had to avoid it constantly._

The door opened and J came in, followed by the other Syzygy administrators.

_Be patient and don't blurt_, Kyle said quickly.

_Blurt if, if you're short on time and it's a bonus_, Aj stammered.

_Never forget that hydrogen and helium are in the sun_, Ashley snorted.

Mike burst out laughing.

"…Voltwing first?" Folii was saying.

There was a squeak that sounded vaguely Aj-like, then their connections dropped completely.

_Guys? _Ashley thought. _You there?_

No one responded.

_Aj, what happened?_

She got no reply from the aura guardian. Ashley resigned and watched Mystor and Iro heft Mike out of the room.

_Good luck, Mike_, she thought.

* * *

><p>They took him through another door, down a hall, past a right fork, around a right corner, down a staircase, through a left door… He lost track. But they ended up in a large operating room lit with fluorescent lights.<p>

_Don't panic_, he warned himself.

J pulled out what looked like a remote and slid her thumb down a button. The bronze melted away like a thin film. He gasped for air – he hadn't needed to breathe when he was frozen, but it was still disconcerting. In a moment he realized his lower legs were still petrified.

_So I can't transform_.

He felt his heart rate rising. _Don't panic, don't panic._

Mystor gestured silently for Mike to climb on the high operating table. Mike gestured silently at his feet, an are-you-serious-man-my-legs-don't-work expression on his face. He swore he saw a flicker of a smile on Mystor's face. It disappeared when the man came over to help Mike up. The younger Lynch's metallic feet clanged against the table.

Mystor and Iro strapped Mike to the table, backside down, with thick Velcro ribbons. He pushed against it to test how strong it was; it didn't give.

Iro noticed.

The fist connected with Mike's chin before he even realized Iro had reacted. Head hitting the hard table, Mike yelped. He glared at Iro.

"You didn't have to do that," he muttered.

Iro's expression was full of hatred. Mike couldn't understand why. "Just lie still while we get this over with," the admin growled.

Fyr was attaching a metal and plastic device to Mike's wrist.

"So what're you doing?" Mike said conversationally.

Fyr shot him a look, then glanced at Mystor.

"The device sends energy into you, effectively forcing you to transform. It's how we took your friend's eyes," he explained.

Mike didn't respond to the phrase that was most likely meant to make him flinch. "Aj said you don't need to make us transform first," he said, addressing Iro.

The admin rolled his eyes. "And I suppose we can cut your _wings_ off when you're in normal form, can we?"

"Yeah, I'd prefer that, actually."

"Calm down," Mystor murmured to Iro, who looked ready to hit Mike again. "Anyways, we'll transform you into flying and go from there."

Mike nodded. Iro frowned suddenly. "Mystor, wait…"

Mystor turned to face him. "Yes?"

The eyes of the two admins met. Their stares held fast, calm gray against cold silver. Mike watched Iro's gaze lose its chill and suddenly seem glazed.

"Nothing," Iro said distantly, turning away. Mystor went to the computer screen.

_That… Mystor's vindica… mind control… he… he's giving me a chance_, Mike realized, suddenly seeing a way out.

"All right, J, you can remove the rest of it," Mystor said.

J fingered the dial again, the metal melted from Mike's legs, and the conversion began.

* * *

><p>Aj felt still when she came to. Directly in her line of vision were Kyle (petrified) and Ashley (paralyzed), so she remembered what had happened pretty quickly.<p>

_Holy shoot, Did I __faint__?_

(She didn't actually say shoot.)

_I guess, I mean, you kinda squeaked and went silent_, Ashley let her know.

Aj groaned. _How long have I been out?_

_Only about five minutes._

_Kyle, why'd you stop talking at the same time?_ Ashley wondered.

_Hm? Oh, I was hijacking Aj's connection in the first place_, he admitted, _cuz I'm not in psychic form._

_Is Mike gone?_ Aj cut in, sounding worried.

_He – they took him somewhere. Don't know where._

_Oh man…_

_Hey, you're an aura guardian, right? Try looking for him._

Aj sounded distressed. _I've never been able to find anybody before! I couldn't find Mike the first time they took him, I couldn't find Kyle today–_

_Right, so you gotta do it this time_, Ashley said seriously. _C'mon, Aj._

_I __can't.__ I never could._

_It doesn't matter_, Kyle said grimly. _You've got the best chance of all three of us._

_But–_

_Try_, Ashley said firmly. _Do you want to save Mike or not?_

_I really do…_

Aj tentatively reached out with her mind. She saw corridors outside, the other cells with trainers with them. Going further, she found Iro's room, Fyr's room, a maze of passages, people everywhere. People in the rooms, walking through the halls, meeting and stopping near each other. They all looked blurry to her mind.

_I see a ton of people_, Aj said.

_Good_, encouraged Ashley.

_But I can't tell them apart._

_Dunno what advice to give you… Kyle?_

_Look for Mike in particular… Sorry, that's all I got._

_Ok_, Aj thought, _What would Mike's aura look like?_

She thought of his constant certainty, his rational way of thinking. His ceaseless training to make himself and his team stronger. How he'd been willing to sacrifice himself on the Hearthome Plateau because he felt it was necessary. How he'd tried to do the same an hour ago, when they'd met C and P in the woods.

The aura she'd felt when he hugged her.

She found herself looking not for a person, but for a feeling. Somewhere over to the left, she sensed something that reminded her of it. Looking closer, she realized the feeling centered around a person lying on a table, with several other people moving around him or her… Him. She was pretty sure that was him.

Her heart may not have been tough, but her sight was strong enough to find him.

_He… I got him._

_Great! Now what?_

_Oh. Arceus…_

_Now we go get him, right?_ said Ashley.

_Kinda stuck here._

Ashley hesitated. _I'm not_.

_You're paralyzed._

_Yeah, well._ She tested her muscles. _Paralysis wears off eventually._

_It's worn off?_ Kyle sounded surprised, in a happy way.

_Not really, but it's worth a shot…_

Ashley pulled her hands, so slow it was almost painful, to where they could push her off the ground. Arms shaking, she strained to sit up.

_But–_

_Don't_, she stopped Kyle, _Just let me try._

She heaved her body onto her knees, hands on the floor for balance. It took a huge effort just to clumsily slide the ariados silk from her feet. Taking a deep breath, she lifted herself from the ground, painstakingly keeping her balance on weak legs. A shock of numbness swept through her, but she kept gaining height, slowly adjusting to the feel of motion even through electrical paralysis.

Breathing hard, Ashley finally made it to her feet.

_What about the door?_ Aj pointed out.

Enough of Ashley's face was working for her to almost grin. _Well, I am a dragon, after all._

Energy surged around her. Its warmth calmed Ashley's nerves and convinced her that she could and _would_ fight the paralysis.

Her arms weren't moving anywhere near their usual speed when she flung a dragon pulse at the door. It split in two, crashing to the side and revealing the cement hallway behind it.

_Dang. We have a chance, huh?_ Aj said, surprised.

_A crappy one, but yeah, maybe. Aj, guide me to him?_

_Turn right and get through the first door you see._

_Good luck_, Kyle wished her, almost sounding cheerful in hope.

_Thanks._ Half walking, half gliding on dragon wings, Ashley entered the corridor.

* * *

><p>It was <em>horrible.<em> Getting force-fed flying energy was like someone pouring ice water down your throat. Mike clenched his fists, resisting the urge to squirm. It wouldn't do him any good.

"Practically there," Iro muttered.

Mike knew that. The surplus of flying energy was collecting in shoulder blades, where the bulk of the transformation would take place. His shoulders burned, never having held so much energy for so long before. It was almost set to burst.

He was ready for when it did.

Mystor paced by the door. Mike was still a bit wary of him – why would Mystor help him? Iro had definitely seen the loophole before that bizarre staring contest. If Mystor helped him… but he was the bad guy… _why?_…

"T-minus three," Iro said.

Mike tensed, sore shoulders about to explode.

"Really, Iro?" Folii laughed. "Do you even know what that mea–"

Lavendar energy and white wings burst from Mike's back. He pushed his wings outward as hard as he could – they were between him and the operating table. Wind from the energy howled in his ears, the velcro straps strained and bit into his skin, shouts drifted around him.

"Restrain him, somebody–"

J pulled out the remote. The wind reacted with a mind of its own, flinging the box from her hand into the corner of the room.

The top few restraints started to snap.

"Arceus damn it, where are my pokeballs?" Iro shouted.

Several more snapped. Mike pulled his arms free and undid the rest of the restraints. He ripped the energy injector from his arm. The wind was starting to die away, offering the admins easier movement. Quickly, he hopped to the ground, but someone grabbed him in a headlock from behind. Long silvery slivers hacked at the base of his wings, slicing them as well as his shoulders.

_Arceus, get off–_ Mike cringed, shoulder burning.

Iro released him suddenly, bloodied metal claws falling limp. His eyes were distant again, but the instant they refocused he turned away from Mike, an expression of rage flooding his face.

"Traitor!" he screeched, "TRAITOR!" He slashed at a surprised Mystor's face, cutting deep into his skin. Another slash and blood began to gush from Mystor's throat.

"Iro, stop!" shouted Fyr, running to pull her brother away.

The door burst open in a flash of blue-purple fire. Mystor's bloodshot gray eyes met Mike's pale lavendar again before the young man collapsed.

"Mike, c'mon!" yelled Ashley from the other side of the door.

Mike made a break for it, not looking back at the ghost Lynch. "Where are we going?" he asked, heart beating fast as he flew after Ashley.

_We need to get Aj and Kyle unfrozen_, she replied telepathically.

_The remote's back there!"_

Ashley halted suddenly. _Then we're going the wrong way._

None of the admins expected the two Lynches to return – Fyr was in tears, and Folii and J were moving Mystor's body.

_In the right corner_, Mike told Ashley.

Ashley shot in on dragon wings, having grown accustomed to using them in paralysis on the way there. Fyr, face streaked with water, formed a rock sphere between her hands and shot it. It was deflected by a powerful, blue-tinged blast of flying energy from Mike.

"Fyr," grunted J. Fyr approached the hunter, who transferred Mystor to her arms. Mike was nearly blinded by the flash of light J then gave off, purely from the shock of it. When it subsided, he realized her eyes were a familiar shade of gold.

Grinning at the flying type's expression, J said to him, "Didn't see this coming, did you Voltwing?"

She thrust a thunderbolt at him. He ducked, folding his wings in closer. Iro lashed out from the side, aiming for Mike's wings again. Mike kicked him below the stomach, making Iro double over in pain. This time, though, J's thunderbolt hit him.

Okay, he'd been hit with electric moves before. He'd raised a shinx into a champion's luxray, one of his best friends specialized in electric types, and he worked with electricity constantly, but he'd always gone out of his way to never get zapped in flying form.

Pain overrode his thoughts like never before. His shoulders buzzed with burning electrical energy – everything did, really, but especially his shoulders. Mike wasn't even sure if he was screaming; his mind was too fuzzy to tell…

It stopped abruptly, dragon fire knocking J into the table. "I got it, let's go!" Ashley shouted.

His head cleared. With a giant beat of his wings, Mike shot out the door after Ashley, who was holding the little box.

He followed her through twists and turns in the corridors. She was moving her wings at sharp angles and odd bends to maneuver through the narrow halls. Mike wasn't doing nearly as well on his bird wings – he was constantly bumping into a wall or clipping a corner. After he finally smacked into a wall, he saw something behind them that was catching up.

_Iro's following us!_

Ignoring his jealousy for Iro's much smaller bug wings, Mike accelerated down a straightaway.

_It's okay, we made it._

Ashley tucked in her wings to fit through an already-blasted-open doorway, sinking in the air but climbing again once she reopened them on the other side. Mike took a running landing and sprinted through the doorway, not taking the risk.

The next doorway they entered was where Kyle and Aj were. Ashley lowered the dials with her hand – her whole hand, since her fingers weren't nimble enough for the job. The bronze coating on Aj and Kyle melted off. "Thanks," Kyle groaned, stretching out stiff limbs.

"Guys, Iro's behind–"

Aj tackled Mike to the ground; a spear of electric energy shot over them and cracked the wall.

_Your shoulder… _she realized.

_It's fine. It'll heal, _he let her know. _Get out of the room, or else we're cornered_, Mike quickly said to the others.

They made a break for it, Mike bringing up the rear and deflecting a shot of fire energy. _Let's break these guys out while we're here_, Ashley said suddenly, glancing at the many doors.

_That's great, but Iro could shoot them all. They're not Lynches who can fight._

_I'll distract him_, Mike said. "Oh, _%^&$_," he hissed audibly, turning around and running back towards the operation room like he'd forgotten something. A rock energy arrow whizzed past his head.

_Mike!_ Anger was evident in Aj's voice.

_If you guys are fast, I'll be back soon, I promise._

He morphed into electric form – his wings were no use right now, anyways – and discharged electricity behind him as he ran. Bullets of various energies rocketed by him, most of them almost hitting their mark. A fire one ignited his hair. One with grass energy skimmed his side. He started running haphazardly to avoid the shots from Iro's rifle.

Mike had made it halfway back to where the other admins were when a steel type bullet pierced his ankle. He fell, skidding a few feet on the concrete. Iro had caught up – Mike flung a thunderbolt at him, occupying him just long enough for Mike to get back to his feet.

Iro grinned and hefted his gun at Mike. "You lose. Switch to flying type, Voltwing."

"I don't think you understand," Mike told him, bracing himself against the wall. Aah, yeah, that ankle hurt. "You really can't kill me til you've got my wings."

Iro nodded thoughtfully. "Sure. But for now, I can still hurt you more. How's that ankle feeling?"

Mike didn't answer. _I can't run… the only way I can move fast is by bringing out my wings. And that's exactly what he wants._

_Oh. Wait._

Mike directed electric energy into Iro's body. Static visibly coursed through the Syzygy Lynch's muscles. Iro's eyes widened and he dropped his rifle, collapsing against the wall.

"What, haven't you ever been paralyzed?"

Iro glared at him and shakily pressed a button on his belt. It beeped a few times.

_Definitely an SOS._ Mike turned into flying mode and headed back to where his friends were.

He rounded a corner and yelped – C was running at him, pokeball in hand. Mike changed directions and went down a random path. He wasn't any better at flying in close quarters than before.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" he yelled when he came upon P.

Backtracking, he was flying for just three more seconds before he reached a room.

It was a warehouse – random crates and old energy receivers sat in the corners. There were five other entrances to the room, and out of each one came a different henchman of J's – five of the six who hadn't been hit at the Hearthome plateau.

"Crap," Mike muttered, finding P, the sixth, behind him.

Flashes of red lit up the room, reminding Mike of that night on the plateau. Every pokemon out was a bug type.

"String shot!" C shouted.

Mike folded his wings in. Sticky silk hit him from all directions, trapping his arms and wings close to him. By the time the bugs stopped attacking, he couldn't move his upper body at all and his legs were locked together. Mike tried to push his wings outward but couldn't.

_Come on, I broke out of the operating table restraints but I can't escape __this__?_

The henchmen had taken out other pokemon – bigger ones. Statistically stronger ones. "Bisharp, Weavile," C said to two of his pokemon, "Your move."

Mike panicked when he realized the pokemon's forearms were knives.

_No. Don't panic._

Thinking fast, he remembered that spider silk was essentially bug energy as a solid. It couldn't be that hard to… no, not enough time to think further, the pokemon were already there.

The Bankai transformation energy blew C's bisharp and weavile back a bit. Mike absorbed it back, first, then took in the string shot. It sank into him and disappeared.

_Not enough_, he thought, _this isn't enough._

Bisharp slashed at him first, blades infused with dark energy. Mike twisted away, ankle throbbing painfully. He readied a pair of air slashes and held them like swords.

_Arceus… How does Kyle do this?_

He blocked the weavile's two blades with one of his. He was well aware that he wouldn't heal if he was hit, and conscious of his surroundings. So when the first shot was fired – a hyper beam – he was ready.

The double task of sparring with the bisharp and weavile while absorbing special attacks was more than he'd ever taken on before. But it felt strangely familiar, innately _right_ to fight in a way that engaged his mind so much. Mike ducked around a metal claw from Weavile and deflected Bisharp's nightslash. He collected energy from an ice beam and flamethrower in his wings and blocked Weavile's slash and Bisharp's fury cutter with his air slash swords. He felt the amount of energy in his wings steadily rising, his feathers glowing brighter and brighter. They were reaching such a high capacity, they were starting to ache.

Then the bisharp landed a hit – a metal claw along Mike's bicep. The Lynch knocked the other blade aside and finally released the stored energy.

It was a typeless discharge of sorts – no types were safe. The bisharp and weavile were blasted back like they'd been shot from a cannon. Everyone else, Mike could barely see through the immense waves of energy rippling out from him. With all that power coursing through him, he felt absolutely _alive_.

The attack ended when the energy ran out. None of his opponents looked conscious, and at least a few – he winced when he realized the bisharp had landed headfirst on P's stomach – wouldn't wake up again.

"Was this a trap?" Mike said suddenly, eyes darting around. "It was too easy not to be!"

But it occurred to him that he'd been fighting a bisharp and a weavile – both known for fighting skill – and getting attacked from all directions at the same time. Why did that sound so much more difficult than it felt?

"Mike!" Ashley flew in, followed by Aj and Kyle. "We – whoa," she said, scanning the wreckage, "I guess I can't complain anymore. I was gonna say we've been calling for you for ages."

"They've all been released, then?"

"Yeah. Most were sent home," replied Aj. "They're in no shape to keep fighting, mentally if not physically."

"And then there are the ones whose teams are gone entirely," Ashley said, grimacing.

"Here," said Kyle a moment later, taking the hand of a – hopefully – unconcscious abomasnow, "Let's lock these guys up and get out of here."

"That might not be necessary," Aj mentioned. At least, not the getting out part."

"Why not?"

"Two of our divisions have arrived – I'm guessing south and west. They've brought the fighting to us, instead."

"All right, then, let's go fight. After dealing with these guys, anyways," Mike decided.

* * *

><p>The situation in the eastern – northeastern – division was was exactly like the north, hours before. A general sense of panic overlying explosions, trainers and pokemon running for their lives, complete madness.<p>

"There's so many 'copters," Anna said frightfully.

"We'll have to split up," Kevin determined. "It'll be faster that way. Hopefully people will catch on."

They divided themselves into three groups. Kevin was with Ian, Dawn with Anna, and the other two trainers were together. "Let's take that one," suggested Ian, pointing at a 'copter that was wreaking havoc thirty yards from them.

"Yeah."

Kevin brought out Needle and Chira; Ian took out his altaria and noctowl.

"We need more trainers."

Kevin looked around and shook his head. "They haven't learned to avoid 'copters yet. The receivers are still picking up a decent amount of external energy."

"Okay then. Ka, Silver, use dragonbreath and air cutter!"

"Needle, Chira, thunderbolt!"

Five attacks surged upward, Kevin's auraspheres included. Suddenly, one thunderbolt and the air cutter were cut off, accompanied by a yell:

"Are you out of your $%&#ing _mind_?"

Kevin turned to face their attacker, a girl who might've been in her late teens. Chira and Silver bared their teeth at her rhydon, which had tackled them both.

"You can't just attack like that," a tall guy said angrily.

The energy collected in the 'copter left in a surge of white energy towards a cluster of trainers farther away. Screams flew before the shot hit.

Needle yowled and let out electricity at the 'copter. Ka the altaria followed, and Chira and Silver joined in with their attacks.

"Stop!" yelled the girl, "Stop it!"

The taller guy shouted something to his hitmonlee, which turned on them. He lashed out with a long-ranged kick.

Kevin darted in the way and forced aura through his palm at the pokemon's kick. At least ten more trainers around them had noticed what was going on.

"You're _insane_," one yelled.

"It works!" Ian yelled back. "If the 'copter overloads on energy, it explodes!"

With the ceasefire from so many pokemon around them, the 'copter wasn't absorbing energy nearly as fast. Kevin and Ian's four pokemon stopped launching their energy just before the 'copter fired into the crowd watching them. A boy and a kangaskhan jumped out of the way. The others warily stepped back.

"What if they're from Syzygy?" someone wondered.

That was it. "Look, we'll show you," said Kevin. "Needle, Chira–"

"Stop them!"

An aura barrier flew up before Kevin even realized he'd done it, sheltering him, Ian, and their pokemon from the angry trainers. The rhydon from before rammed his head into it, giving an earsplitting bellow but failing to break the barrier.

"You're going to get us all blown up!" The girl shouted angrily.

Kevin glared at her and the rest of the trainers. "Cowards," he snarled. "You're all too afraid for your own rear ends to take a chance and help everyone else!"

The girl made a noise of frustration and turned to the others. "Guys, get through the barrier!"

Kevin pushed his aura into the bluish shield as pokemon came charging in from all around. Some started launching special attacks. "Ian!" he yelled, "the 'copter!"

Nodding, Ian called out, "Ka, Silver, dragonbreath and air cutter! Needle, Chira, do your thing!"

Kevin may not have been shooting auraspheres this time, but he still went on the offense. While keeping the barrier up, he directed the elemental energy from the trainers' attacks upward, propelling it faster at the 'copter. Thank Arceus for the tree cover; the trainers might've seen what he was doing otherwise. He sensed the shield weakening; he strengthened it without a second thought.

At the same time, something odd started to happen. A ripple of blue sparks coursed through Kevin, from feet to head. He didn't even flinch. But as he kept redirecting energy and holding up the shield, it happened again. And again.

Kevin was too concentrated to feel it. It was only after he heaved the aura energy of the barrier itself into the 'copter just in cast everything else hadn't been enough, after feeding just a few more stray attack energies into the 'copter, after shoving all the remaining aura energy he could find upwards… Only then did he realize every last bit of him was on fire.

There wasn't any particular order to the next three things that happened.

He screamed in agony, the attackers stopped in horror, the 'copter exploded.

* * *

><p><strong>If you don't know what exactly happened to Kevin, it'll be explained.<strong>

**Ka is named after the favorite marching show of a friend of mine - many friends of mine, really, but this friend is one I call "Ian" in stories sometimes.**

**Oh, and all that nonsensical stuff in the first segment (like w/m squared and page 275) are jokes from that science team the four of us were in way back in sixth and seventh grade. A lot of them have to do with the competition itself, like blurting and bonus questions, but others have to do with what we read in the textbooks. Plus we knew the mnemonic for the Kingdom Phylum etc. sequence started with King Philip, but we didn't know the rest so I made one up.**

**Okay ~ see you next chapter. And review :D**


	27. The Chapter With Too Many Recalls

**Lulz, it takes two to start a fight.**

**Folii and Fyr argue like my section leaders :P Or, my old section leaders anyways.**

**GUYS THIS IS IT. THE FINAL CHAPTER. READ AND ENJOY!**

**(Epilogue coming soon)**

* * *

><p>They ran through the deserted corridors, following Aj's sense of direction. Mike's ankle had gotten around to healing, although his arm was still gashed. It would probably stay that way a while, since C's bisharp had cut it while he was in Bankai.<p>

Ashley was feeling much better. Kyle had a paralyz heal in his pocket, which he'd given her after he unfroze.

"Stop."

They sort of had to; otherwise they would have run into him. "Weren't you paralyzed?" Mike pointed out.

Iro smiled grimly. "Yes. The key there is the past tense."

"I'm sticking around this time," Aj muttered.

"Bye, guys, "Mike said to Kyle and Ashley.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, Aj and me is enough," Mike said, grinning.

"Will you _kindly_ look up."

Mike glanced at him in surprise. "Why, what's wrong?" Also, why did he look so smug.

"Nothing much. Except you're assuming you have a choice who battles, and when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me."

Mike looked at him blankly. "What–"

A dusknoir appeared and pulled him and Iro down through the shadows.

Mike couldn't recognize the place the shadow sneak brought them to. They were on the banks of a wide, rocky river. Thick foliage surrounded the river on either side.

Iro nodded at the dusknoir. "Please return in ten minutes." The dusknoir disappeared.

"Was that Mystor's?" Mike wondered. He would have asked why Iro expected the battle to be within ten minutes, and if maybe he thought he'd lose quickly, but this question took priority. He felt oddly calm about all this.

"Yeah." Iro morphed into Bankai right off the bat. Adjusting his goggles, he grinned. "Ready to die?"

"Nah, I'll wait a bit longer for that." Mike morphed into flying secondary, not wanting to risk Iro landing a hit on his nemesial.

"Your loss." Iro slashed forward, Mike ducked back. Mike created a pair of air slash blades. It had worked once; it was worth a shot.

Iro fired a zap cannon right at him… and as it turned out, the air slashes really were "worth a shot." That was all it took to vaporize them on contact.

Mike blinked, catching his balance. _Wow, those really suck against special attacks…_

Claws glinting silver, Iro zipped in on his wings, aiming for Mike's shoulders. In a brief second, Mike ducked away and slipped on a rock.

Unfurling his wings to steady himself, he realized Iro's intentions in bringing him here to fight. The river and dense trees limited their ground, and what solid earth they did have was slippery with river water. Terrain completely unsuitable for battle, unless you're a fish or something. Like a bug. Or a bird.

Iro wanted an air battle, so that Mike would have to keep his wings out.

_Guess I don't have a choice_, Mike sighed internally, lifting off.

He heard a click and a whirr of energy, and automatically shot upward just before Iro fired. Something pink whizzed by. Psychic arrow.

"Fast," Iro commented, flying up on his bug wings, holding his rifle in both hands.

"Not really," said Mike, letting flying energy solidify in front of his face like a crane's beak. He didn't normally fight with a beak – though he knew how – but unique times called for unique measures.

Iro blocked with the gun, the two weapons crashing together with a clang. Mike swung the beak around and cut Iro's arm. Grunting, Iro pushed Mike's beak away and flew backwards. Mike shot after him, but he was too fast and too close to dodge when Iro suddenly raised his gun.

**BANG!**

The beak disappeared when the icy blue bullet shattered Mike's shoulder. Mind reeling in pain, he kept most of his momentum and settled for ramming Iro in the stomach instead. Lowering his gun, Iro brought metal energy to surround his free hand. Holding his arm steady, Mike swooped around and rammed into him from behind, this time with an aerial ace. The impact jarred his shoulder just the same.

Whirling around, Iro shook his head angrily. "That's it." He aimed his rifle.

Mike ducked around the first shot and swerved between the rest, keeping his wings more or less out of the way. A spear of orangish fighting energy clipped the primary feathers of his left wing, but that was all.

He ducked under a ghost-type bullet, and suddenly found a blue-black one rocketing as his chest. Realizing he couldn't evade it in time, he blasted a quick flurry of air cutters at it. It deflected the shot at a slight angle.

"Urgh…" he groaned, feeling the pain spike right near the old cut as the dark energy tore through his arm. His thumb and pointer finger twinged and lost contact with the rest of him. That would heal, right? Was it too serious to heal? Lynch healing could only do so much. Were broken nerves part of that?

Iro fired again, aiming for Mike's wing. Mike folded them both in and dropped below the shot. He launched an aeroblast at Iro, who easily evaded it. Mike started to construct a hurricane, but without his arms to stabilize it, the wind energy flew out of control and dispersed.

_This is worthless_, he thought. _Flying type… it's mostly physical, and my arms… and I have to stay on the ground in electric…_

_Damn it, Iro, I wouldn't be surprised if that was intentional._

Iro grinned devilishly, watching Mike transform into Bankai. "Aww, poor Mikey can't heal now."

"Shut up," said Mike, pulling electricity in front of him. "I can also absorb the energy you shoot from your gun."

Iro seemed disconcerted at first, but then smiled. "I'll just absorb it back."

Mike shot his thunderbolt at Iro, who held his rifle in front of him. The attack dissipated into the steel. Swinging it around, Iro leveled his gun and fired.

The phrase _Oharceusthisbetterwork_ shot through Mike's mind as he let the bullet hit his wing.

He felt an impact – like a basketball hitting him hard – but it wasn't nearly enough of a force to pierce his wing. He felt the electricity flow back into him. Iro made a face.

"Darn. I thought that might still work against you." Energy filtered into the barrel of his gun and he fired, shooting brilliant violet-magenta dragon type energy at Mike, who took it in through his wings. Mike fired it back; Iro reabsorbed it.

They volleyed energy missiles back and forth, adding energy in between shots. The same cannonball of energy grew steadily, knocking Mike back a bit more, taking longer to load into Iro's gun. Mike's wings were nearing their capacity; he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out –

Iro was grinning, confident in his weapon's ability. The gun was his vindica, just as Kyle's sword guard and Toxica's claws were theirs. He took the incoming mass of energy into the barrel. After sucking all the energy inside, it made an unexpected click. Iro looked down in surprise before his gun exploded.

The blast threw Iro into the trees and the torn pieces of the gun every which way. Dodging a shard of flying metal, Mike took the chance to check on his arms. His crushed shoulder still ached, but it was definitely healing. Blood covered his other arm, and he still couldn't feel his first two fingers.

Iro shot from the branches of a pine, shock written across his face, hands outstretched in front of him. Some sort of dust was cupped in his hands.

"You bastard," he yelled, his voice angry despite his stricken expression, "It took me _ages_ to master the technique for that thing!" He hurled the dust aside – _useless_, thought Mike, _If I was him I'd have used that, thrown it in his face or something_ – and zoomed at Mike, pulling up a combination bug-steel claw attack. Mike easily swooped under it and shot a thunderbolt at Iro's back.

"Aargh–" Iro made a sharp turn and went straight for him again. Mike swerved aside at the last moment and kicked Iro in the ribs. Iro slashed at Mike's legs, carving a brutal gash. Propelling himself backwards, Mike charged and shot an aeroblast at the bug Lynch, who swerved around it and emitted both a metallic screech and a low-pitched whine at the same time.

Mike recoiled from the sonic attacks, shielding his ears without regard for his still-recovering arms. His head was still ringing after Iro stopped attacking with sound and flew at him.

Metal claws out, Iro slashed Mike twice, fast, in the chest. Mike tried to reorient himself after the force of the blows sent him spinning – Iro's meteor mash struck the side of his face first. The admin wasn't after Mike's wings anymore; he was fighting out of vengeance. For his gun. For Aj. For all his bottled-up hatred for Mike.

Mike felt something tear his wing, soaking his lower feathers with blood. He blew a gust at Iro to buy himself time, but Iro resisted the gale and came in with another meteor mash, this one to Mike's stomach. Mike doubled over, his face hit Iro's knee, his nose cracked.

Then Iro was behind him, steel claws at his collarbone. "Heh… It's… hardly been five minutes," he taunted, breathing heavily. "Sucks for you."

Short blades pressed into Mike's throat, stinging as they bit into his skin. He couldn't absorb the metal energy; only his wings could accomplish that. He'd gotten good at thinking around problems over the last few months, but _this_? Iro's claws already sinking into his throat…?

And suddenly, somehow, Iro pulled his blades away. Mike found himself falling; he caught himself, wincing, on torn wings.

"Get out of Bankai, dude," Aj called from the riverbank, keeping her gaze trained on Iro. Iro's hands, steel claws still activated, were frozen in the air, a furious expression on his face. Aj was manipulating the steel energy in his metal claws.

_Aj…_

He glided down and landed next to her. Wiping the blood from his face, Mike quietly said, "Thank you."

Aj smiled tightly. "Glad I reached you in time. Now hurry up and transform out of that Arceus-forsaken Bankai."

Mike obliged and went into electric mode. His arms were still a mess, and he was bleeding from all the cuts that wouldn't heal at a Lynch rate, but at least he wasn't on death row.

Iro finally released the metal energy around his fingers, regaining control of his hands. "Aj, what the #$%&–"

"No, man," she said seriously, "You don't get to say that. I should be saying that to you. You aren't gonna get to kill Mike, so get over it."

Iro set his jaw. "I'll just win the traditional way, then."

He rushed at Aj and Mike, who raised their hands. A shockwave and bubblebeam met him halfway. The water amplified the electricity; the impossible-to-dodge shockwave let the bubblebeam hit. Dazed from the blow, Iro stopped in midair. He moved his hands toward his back, as though expecting to find his gun there. Finding only empty space, he blasted a zap cannon their way. Aj blocked it with an aura shield. Mike gingerly lowered his arm.

_Have you ever fought with aura?_ Mike suddenly asked.

_Auraspheres, yeah._

_What about aura fusion?_

_You mean like…_ Aj considered it. _Never tried that. Worth a shot._

She pulled down the shield and created a waterpulse. Indigo aura laced the lighter blue water energy. Aj flung it at Iro, who slashed at it with a metal claw. It exploded on him, spraying him with water and knocking him back.

"What did you do?" Iro said, startled by how far backward he'd been blown.

Aj did it again, but he dodged it. He couldn't evade the faster aura-infused watergun that followed.

_It's so much more powerful! It's like a second Vindica! _she exclaimed.

Iro was flying in closer. Mike took a fighting stance and his arms throbbed. _Ow_, said Aj._ Step back man, I'm in Bankai. I can feel that._

She hurled her arms up to stop Iro's dive, metal claws crackling with blue energy. The blades on their fingers clashed several times, pausing once when Aj slid her blades down Iro's forearm. Ignoring the blood dripping down his wrist, Iro struck again and was blocked by Aj's aura-strengthened claws. He twisted his hands and suddenly caught the center of her right hand between his claws. Thinking quickly, Aj leveled her left hand at his wrist.

Iro smiled. Or grimaced. One of those. "Aj, why do you hate me? I'm not a bad person."

"Really? You keep trying to kill my friends," she spat.

"Out of obligation. I owe Syzygy my life."

"You almost murdered Mike."

"Like Syzygy wants, provided they get his wings."

"You've got nothing against killing?"

"I know where my loyalty lies."

"But you've got no sense of morals," Aj countered. "Sorry, man. I'm never gonna like you. Well, I take that back," she amended, seeing Iro's face fall.

His expression lightened a little. "You'll consider me?"

"No, I'm not sorry."

Face hardening, Iro flicked his wrists. Aj's palm and the back of her hand split in five different places, pierced by Iro's claws.

"Ugh–" Aj sliced her own claws across his wrist. He let go and examined the damage, unaware of Aj constructing an attack right in front of him. Iro glanced up only briefly before her waterpulse exploded in his face.

Turned out, it was more than that. Metal and aura energy joined the water in blasting him into the river. Aj's subsequent zap cannon blew him back out. Iro's waterlogged wings were unable to stop him from flying into a tree. A heavy thud resonated when his head rammed into the trunk.

Aj cringed. "His fault for losing his guard."

"You're right," said a voice behind them.

Mike and Aj spun around. "How long have you been standing there?" Aj yelped.

"Long enough," replied J. Her reflective glasses hid any emotion from her face – then again, she probably had none to begin with. "I figured he could handle that on his own."

"Guess you were wrong," Mike said calmly.

J glanced at him. She moved so fast he hardly saw her at all; only felt the wind get knocked out of him and his stomach turn icy cold. His leg lashed out to kick her knee, but she had already drawn back.

Aj, oddly enough, was trying to catch her breath too. Mike remembered her nemesial suddenly.

"Isn't it nice?" remarked J, "I only have to beat up one of you." She threw a second punch at Mike, who ducked aside. Aj hit J in the back with an aura-infused water pulse. Without even acknowledging it, J lunged forward, grabbed Mike by the arms, and yanked him to the side.

Mike cried out, his closing wound tearing open and his healing shoulder cracking. Pain shot through Aj's chest and she flickered briefly from view. In a moment she noticed the red eye staring at her from the woods.

She yelped, feeling herself rise into the air. Her hands and eyes curled shut of their own accord. "Let g–" she started to say before the dusknoir's psychic took control of her mouth.

Mike stole a glance at her, regretting it when J nailed him in the side of the head. He shot a bolt of electricity back, hitting her in the stomach. She easily overcame the shock – _damn, she's an electric type_ – and froze his knee in ice. Jumping back, she slipped on a wet stone and nearly lost her balance.

Mike rammed his knee against a large boulder, trying to break the ice. It stayed solid, the cold starting to send messages of pain through his leg.

_Okay. My knee is frozen, my arms are useless, and it looks like no matter what form I'm in, I'll be at a disadvantage_, he reasoned.

_Ah._

Mike spun around and shot a thunderbolt at the dusknoir in the woods. Mystor's pokemon flinched but kept his hold on Aj. Darting over the soaked, uneven ground – awkwardly because of his frozen knee – Mike threw an electrically charged punch at Dusknoir. Flinching, the ghost type released Aj and took hold of Mike instead, suspending him in the air. Mike's arms screamed, twisted by the dusknoir, and Aj and Mike both felt it–

J sent a gale of frozen wind at Mike. _Bankai_, Mike thought quickly, transforming to absorb the icy needles surrounding him. He realized too late that his Bankai – flying electric – was weak to ice. Even as he absorbed it through his wings, the blizzard relentlessly pounded the rest of him, stinging and making him ache with cold. His head hurt, his temples were frozen and sore–

It came as a momentary relief when the blizzard let up and the psychic grip of the dusknoir loosened, dropping him on the riverbank. Mike's relief ended when he fell unconscious.

J turned to her final opponent. Aj was upright, but having trouble standing – her nemesial had sent the blizzard's equivalent straight into her. She was painfully aware of being in no condition to fight.

"You're joking," J said incredulously, watching in disdain as Aj created a barrier of aura around herself. Shaking her head, J unleashed a bolt of electricity straight at the shield. Aj fought to keep her aura dome strong under the attack. She felt it weakening and, ignoring the terror growing within her, pushed more energy into it.

A surge of aura swept through her suddenly. Shouting in pain, Aj's control of the barrier slackened and vanished completely along with the shield. She shut her eyes tight before J's thunder hit her, then felt it sear her nerves, amplified by her electric weakness.

J finally ceased fire. Aj's unconscious form slumped to the ground, her metallic Bankai features badly charred.

J lowered her hands and turned her head toward the dusknoir. Her expression remained unreadable beneath her glasses, but she sounded annoyed when she spoke.

"Why did you interfere? I could have handled that fine."

Dusknoir didn't respond, but floated over to Iro and scooped him up.

"Come back quickly," J ordered. "I want these two transported to headquarters ASAP."

"Dusk," he grunted, sinking into the shadows.

Left alone with two unresponsive Lynches, J gazed across the river, already bored.

Then she heard a giggle. Whirling around, she saw no one there.

"He's not fast enough for that," said a voice.

J switched her infrared goggles on. Still nothing.

"Stop taunting her and get him."

A flash of orange and white flickered through her field of vision. Turning her head after it, she realized something was missing. She had to take off her glasses to know exactly what.

Mike was gone. The half-frozen body had disappeared from the riverside. Searching for the culprit, J spotted Aj rising into the air and disappearing. J threw her goggles back on and aimed at the invisible pokemon. Then she remembered it had been smashed.

"Bye," the glowing white figure on her screen said cheerfully.

A second figure holding another Lynch swooped by, hissing, "Come _on_, Sagitta," and the two disappeared.

Dusknoir returned five seconds later. J was furious.

* * *

><p>"Hey!" Ashley shouted, throwing a dark pulse into a fistfight. It hit one of the brawlers, a barefooted girl who looked at Ashley angrily and then grinned.<p>

"I was wondering when I'd get to fight you," Fyr said gleefully, abandoning the fight against someone's blaziken. The gems on her necklace and belt glowed a fiery red, and rings of rock energy circled her. _That's new_, thought Ashley. _They didn't glow much before._

Ashley blasted a dark pulse at Fyr's stone edge; the two met in midair and neutralized each other.

Something growled and swiped at Fyr's back. She'd forgotten the blaziken. Jerking her elbow backwards, Fyr struck the fire type in the head with an air of annoyance, knocking him out. She didn't look away from her new opponent.

At least not until said opponent disappeared.

"You _wish_," Fyr snapped, throwing a fire punch to her right. Ashley appeared there and immediately got her head knocked back by a burning fist. "I've trained too often with Mystor for that to work."

Her voice held bitterness when she mentioned Mystor. Ashley didn't catch it, mostly cause she's dense as hell, partly cause that punch hurt.

Brushing aside the stinging in her face, Ashley aimed a punch at Fyr, who blocked it. She swerved around a blaze kick and blasted a close-range dark pulse. Blown backward, Fyr caught her footing quickly and pointed over Ashley's head, her gems shining red. Recognizing the move as the same one she used to create avalanches, Ashley sent out a ripple of dark energy, shattering the rocks above her. Fyr kicked again; Ashley caught her foot and flung it sideways. But she didn't anticipate Fyr's other foot coming up and kicking her in the head.

Stunned by the hit, Ashley didn't retaliate in time. Fyr shoved her into a tree, binding Ashley to the trunk with rings of rock energy she solidified. She'd done it before, in Eterna five days ago. Suppressing the panic that instinctively welled in her chest, Ashley thought fast and used a night daze to shatter the stone pinning her down. She launched herself forward, nailing Fyr with a sucker punch.

Leaves suddenly pummeled her from behind, shooting sharp pains through her arms and back. Ashley didn't turn around; she knew who was there already. She ducked under a rock-encrusted fist and punched Fyr hard in the knee.

Suddenly, a thorny plant shot out and snapped around Ashley's wrist. She hacked at it with a nightslash, cutting part of the stem before another tendril snared her other arm. The spiked vines wrenched her arms above her head, pulling her onto her toes.

"Fyr, you wanna take her out?" Folii asked, entering Ashley's view.

"Um, _excuse_ me, but she doesn't have that option," Ashley shot, struggling against Folii's plants. The thorns pierced her skin.

"Doesn't she, though?" Fyr said, creating a dagger from rock energy. Ashley kicked her away, causing another pair of frenzy plants to wrap around her feet. She let out another nightdaze, but the plants held strong.

"%$# ," she hissed, finally feeling fear. She transformed into Bankai and blindly lashed outward with her wings (pun not intended). Fyr wildly swiped at her wings like a cat clawing at a bird dancing just in front of her. Ashley felt something bounce off her chest.

"You moron!" she heard Folii yell, "Can't you think straight?! Her vindica!"

"All _right_, all _right!_" A band of rock energy closed around Ashley's throat; she nightdazed it to pieces.

"Oh, _Arceus_."

"Well, then _you_ do it!"

"Fine."

A plant curled around Ashley's neck, constricting her windpipe. She pulled her wrists downward, wanting to pry it from her throat, but the frenzy plant wouldn't give. She shot out a random dragonbreath; Fyr and Folii didn't even have to dodge. Gray started to obscure her already fuzzy vision.

And then the pressure was gone. Ashley gasped for breath. The grips on her hands and feet relaxed, one by one. A piece of thorny plant stem fell next to her.

"Not _another_ one. Now, of all times?" Folii sounded incredibly frustrated.

"When else?" came Kyle's voice.

The cuts from the frenzy plant's thorns were already closing up. _I guess that's… what, twice he's saved my life? No, at least three times. Maybe more._

There was something welling in her heart, but she didn't let it into her head. She had a feeling it would make her foggy or irrational.

"You okay?" asked a skinny figure who came up next to her. Ashley couldn't see Kyle well, but she could picture him.

"Yeah. Thanks."

A spiked vine whipped itself at them – Kyle sliced it apart with his sword. Fyr's gems glowed in preparation for an attack.

Ashley flung a sphere of dragon, dark, and ice energy at Folii, who hit it with a frenzy plant. Kyle's focus blast countered Fyr's power gem. He had to dodge another frenzy plant seconds later.

_Why isn't she getting tired?_ He wondered, projecting his thoughts to Ashley.

_What do you mean?_

_Frenzy plant's a draining move, and she's been using it nonstop._

Ashley thought if over. _Vindica_, she concluded.

_Aw, man._

Folii lashed out with her thorned vines, sweeping Ashley off her feet. The latter blasted a dragon rage at Fyr, who was gearing up for a rock move of some kind. Kyle suddenly launched a mist ball at Folii, delta inside it. The added force of the steel guard knocked her off balance, giving Ashley a chance to fire an ice beam her way. Folii yelped, finding herself cased partway in ice.

Fyr shot a small flame at her to melt the ice.

"CAN YOU NOT?" yelled the grass type, avoiding the fire.

"Is your nemesial idiocy?" Ashley asked, genuinely curious.

Glaring at her, Fyr clenched her fists. _A passive reaction_? Kyle thought in surprise.

Her gems burned bright red. That was more expected. Ashley ducked beneath a jet of lava and launched ice at the tree it lit on fire. Kyle psybeamed Folii, who'd been preparing to attack Ashley while she was still off guard. He rushed in with his sword, slashing through Folii's leaf storm. Turning pale at the oncoming blade, Folii slapped his sword from his hand with a frenzy plant just as Fyr shot another stream of lava at Ashley.

Kyle's sword flew. Ashley ducked. The molten rock collided with the metal and Kyle gasped.

Startled, the Syzygy Lynches stared at him. Ashley broke Folii's shock with an ice beam – the two resumed fighting. Fyr met Kyle's horrified look with a wicked grin.

"Sword's a part of you, huh? Shame you can't protect it when it's out of your reach."

She blasted it with flamethrower. Kyle didn't scream, but he crumpled like something had hit him hard in the stomach. Ashley noticed.

"Arceus…" She icebeamed Folii in the face – with any luck, that would keep her occupied – and faint attacked Fyr before she could strike again. The fire type toppled over, landing in the dirt. Ignoring a punch to the face, Ashley reached for a shiny spot on the ground in front of Fyr and yanked it up. Fyr jumped when her necklace chain snapped.

Ashley leapt to her feet, holding Fyr's pendant. "Give that back," Fyr demanded.

"Why?"

"Give it here!" Fyr scrambled upright and grabbed at the orange stone. Ashley pulled it out of reach, feeling it heat up.

"Maybe I'll just do this," she decided spontaneously, surrounding it in a dragon pulse and firing it at Folii.

Unlike Kyle, Fyr screamed.

"Wait, no I didn't," said Folii.

**I said Fyr, not Folii.**

"Couldn't you have given us more _different _names?" Folii grumbled.

**OMIGOD. THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER. YOU COMPLAIN **_**NOW**_** ABOUT YOUR NAME?**

"Just get on with the battle," Folii muttered.

Folii didn't scream, but that had less to do with determination and more to do with her face. Ashley had accidentally encased Folii's head in ice.

"Then how was I tal–"

**SHUT IT.**

The dragon pulse hit her in the head and shattered the ice, leaving Folii gasping for breath, face tinged blue from cold and lack of oxygen.

Kyle ran to retrieve his sword. "I know that look," he said to Fyr. "The one you had when Ashley dragon pulsed your pendant? Same as what I felt when you torched my sword. No wonder you figured out my nemesial so fast."

Ashley, who hadn't seen the effect of dragon pulsing Fyr's pendant due to blurry eyesight, was now shooting ice at Folii, who was countering with bullet seeds and frenzy plant. Kyle swung the flat part of his sword at Fyr's side. It hit her belt right where two more of the red gems were, cracking them.

Fyr swore violently and shot a jet of lava right at him. He ducked and jabbed at another crystal.

"I…" said Fyr in between lava bursts, "will… _murder…_ you…"

"That's not really different from your original plan," Kyle said, smashing the remainder of her crystals. Fyr gasped and suddenly flickered out of Bankai, into secondary form.

"Sucks having a nemesial," Kyle sympathized.

Fyr huffed and flung a burst of flame at Kyle's head. Kyle batted it away, still getting singed along the side of his face. Ducking under the next jet of fire, he lunged with his sword, piercing right through the side of her stomach.

She stared at him, hardly seeming to notice pain. "Did you really?" she whispered, growing pale.

Kyle didn't respond, but pulled his sword from her side and psychicked the blood off it.

Fyr fainted in a few seconds. Kyle didn't hesitate to use heal pulse – just because he'd struck a finishing blow didn't mean he was a killer.

Ashley came up behind him as he healed Fyr. "Done already?" he asked.

"Yep. Ice and fire," she said, pointing to a dead frenzy plant that was half frozen, half burning with dragon fire.

"Where's Folii?"

"Over there." She pointed to a charred form at the center of most of the plants.

"Cool." He looked around. A zangoose appeared – his zangoose. "Can you get the authorities over here? We need a pickup."

Strike nodded and scampered off.

_Mike, Aj, how's it going over there?_ Ashley heard Kyle say telepathically. _It's been over an hour._

There wasn't an answer.

_Oh, sorry, is it a bad time?_

No answer.

_Hello?_

Still nothing.

Kyle and Ashley shot a worried glance at each other. Somewhere far off, there was a scream.

* * *

><p>There was really no reason to cut that last scene off, but it felt like the thing to do. So I may as well talk about all those neglected characters while we're sorta suspended in time.<p>

Roark's rampardos had collapsed on top of him a few hours before – he was bruised but otherwise okay. The same couldn't be said for Argenta, who'd tumbled down a steep incline and broken her leg. She'd been pulled out of the fight, while Thorton kept track of her pokemon. His bronzong had taken out at least twenty Syzygy pokemon at once with explosion, three and a half hours ago.

Volkner's pokemon were acting as lightning rods, absorbing electric attacks wherever they could and then attacking the enemy with immense speed. Flint's pokemon were doing the same with fire, while the two trainers directed the fray and made sure there wasn't another pokemon sneaking up on theirs. Flint had a gash across his back that he was completely ignoring, plus a sprained wrist he was _almost_ ignoring. Volkner's jacket had been set on fire sometime around noon, and he abandoned the remaining half of it in a lake. His arms were burnt from the incident, but not too badly.

Maylene and Candice were fighting tag battles in the northeast. Maylene's lucario had located the hariyama who'd captured him several months ago, and was exacting his revenge. Lucian had been stabbed in the stomach by a beedrill, but his espeon had fortunately been twenty feet away and able to heal him. A thunderbolt had taken out Crasher Wake, who was recovering in the Hearthome Pokemon Center-slash-temporary hospital. His floatzel was still fighting somewhere.

The northeastern division had caught on to the 'copterstopping method, and had all but eliminated the 'copters by now. Dawn and the rest of Kevin's team were among the fighters in the area, finishing off the last of them. Ash had joined them, along with the guy he'd met earlier that day.

As the sun set, fights throughout the forest were winding down. Meanwhile, where Ashley and Kyle were, Syzygy's final push had just begun.

* * *

><p>"What," Ashley said, "the <em>h #$ <em>is that?"

"That" loomed over the forest, obscuring the dark sky. It looked like a set of dull black boxes that could fly, with energy receivers completely covering the bottom.

"Fire!" shouted a trainer ten feet away. A group of ten pokemon launched a barrage of special attacks upwards. The method for beating 'copters. 'Copters didn't have such closely packed energy receivers, though.

"Guys! Stop! It's eating all the energy!" another trainer screamed. The pokemon all stopped and fled from the ensuing blast.

Ashley and Kyle ducked behind a tree. "Isn't that J's ship?" Kyle realized.

"Sure is," said Ash, coming out of nowhere. "This is really bad."

"We need to get some flying types up there," said another trainer, emerging from the trees behind Ash.

"_Thomas?_" Ashley said incredulously.

Thomas looked just as surprised. "You have _wings?!_"

"You know each other?" said Ash.

"He challenged me at the Castle ages ago. How do _you_ know him?" Ashley asked Ash.

"He's… we've been fighting together. We saved each other's necks a while ago."

A blast shook the forest. "It was nice seeing you and all," said Thomas, who was still eyeing Ashley's wings with a bit of shock, "but I think we should start getting onto that ship."

"Fair point." Kyle eyed the airship's altitude. "Looks like fliers and teleporters for this."

"And faint attackers," added Ashley.

"We'll spread the word. Maybe you guys should head on up," Ash suggested. He and Thomas dashed off, Pikachu and a raichu in close pursuit.

Kyle held out a hand. "Shall we?"

"You'll get a headache again." Ashley spread her wings, still in Bankai. "I'm flying," she said. "See you there."

Kyle smiled faintly as she shot up. That was a problem. He wasn't going to teleport onto the exterior of the ship. What good would that do?

He closed his eyes and teleported _into_ the ship.

* * *

><p>Iro stood atop J's airship. His injuries hadn't been too bad, at least for a Lynch. It was just the tree to the head that knocked him out. All the cuts on his arms had healed by now – the biggest damage was the loss of his rifle.<p>

He clenched his hands. Halfway beating up Mike hadn't been _nearly_ enough to satiate his anger. He wanted vengeance. That was all that mattered anymore. Of the original admins of Syzygy – Smokelius, Crateron, Mystor, Toxica, and Folii – three were dead and two were with the police. And now his _sister_ was with the police, too. It was just him and J left, and frankly, neither of them cared about the dumb old prophecy to begin with. J's ship, with its original and added weapons, was all they needed to defeat the League and its ragtag army. Revenge was all that mattered in this fight, from here on out.

On the other side of the airship, a human shape with clear, glassy wings rose into view. A smile spread across Iro's face. His chance for vengeance had arrived.

* * *

><p>Kyle arrived right where he wanted to be.<p>

"Fancy control room you've got here," he said, walking forward.

J's chair swiveled around. "Only the best, naturally," she said.

Suddenly, Kyle whipped out his swords and blasted a psycho cut at J. She countered with a lightning-fast thunderbolt (pun very much intended).

"I would ask why you've come, but you've made that rather clear," she said, standing and pulling out a pokeball.

Kyle drew Apade's pokeball. "It's just you and me," he whispered to it.

J released her volcarona straight off the bat. "Flame charge," she ordered before Kyle's gallade was even out.

"Dodge," Kyle said upon throwing the pokeball. Apade materialized, shifted sideways, and barely avoided the hit. "Acupressure."

"Flamethrower."

Apade ducked under it, successfully gaining an attack boost from acupressure. He dodged the next few hits, continually using acupressure, until a flame charge smashed him from behind.

"Kay, that's enough," said Kyle. "Stored power!"

The power orbs nailed Volcarona right in the face. Growling (I dunno, do bugs growl?) in pain, she attacked without command, fire blasting Apade. He wasn't very far away. At all.

"Apade!" Kyle yelped. The gallade tumbled backwards, landing on his backside. Despite a bad burn on his stomach, he pushed himself to his feet.

"You okay?" Kyle called.

" 'M fine," Apade mumbled.

"You know what to do."

Apade did. Energy orbs formed around Volcarona and flew in. She screeched (I'm fairly sure bugs screech) and fell to the floor.

"Return," said J.

_That was fast_, Kyle said, impressed. _Nice one._

_Don't congratulate me yet_, Apade responded.

J sent out Drapion. "Claws," she said simply.

Kyle got her meaning. "Apade, counter with as many blade moves as you can."

The pokemon rushed at each other, a rainbow of energies trailing along behind them. Black, purple, orange-brown, green, pink… Even the lavendar of flying. And then they connected.

It was this immediate explosion of light and force that pushed – _blasted _– the occupants of the room into the walls. When the dust cleared (figuratively; it was really when they recovered from the shock–

"Why not just say that, then?" Kyle suggested.

**Shush, the dust clearing sounds cooler.**

"But there's no–"

**ALL RIGHT, I'LL CHANGE IT IF YOU SHUT UP.**

When the four recovered from the impact, it became clear that Apade was a lot better off than Drapion; not only had Apade's attack been boosted several times by acupressure, but he'd managed to get a protect up after the clash, cushioning him from the explosion.

"Pin missile," J told her drapion.

"Dodge. Get in there with close combat."

It was a risk. It was one of those moves that really has to be a final hit, because of the defense drop. Apade waited for the pin missiles to be fired, then teleported right in front of Drapion, behind his claws. He slashed upward at the same time that J's drapion came down with a poison fang.

The moves hit their marks: Drapion roared and collapsed. Apade turned around to look at Kyle, a nasty purple bite wound across his forehead.

"Drapion, return. Liepard, fake out."

Apade teleported twenty feet to the left, but the liepard still managed to get in front of him and make him flinch.

"Quick, close combat!"

"Paralyze him, now!"

Apade reached back for a hit and suddenly froze, sparks shuddering through his limbs.

"Shoot, Apade, ret–"

_Don't even think about it!_ Apade yelled telepathically, _I'm not going down without a fight!_

"Fury swipes," J commanded.

Kyle watched with increasing anxiety as Apade took the hits. Liepard clawed deep scratches all over him, knowing full well there was little the gallade could do about it.

She also forgot he had swords for elbows.

Kyle heard a yowl before he noticed anything else; the Liepard was moving too fast for him to see details. But when she suddenly stopped leaping around, it was clear to see what Apade had done.

_Apade…_

_All I did was move my arm. That's all. She's the one who ran into it._

"Return." The red light from J's pokeball hit the liepard and didn't pull her in. "Liepard!"

_Again_, Apade defended himself, slowly withdrawing his elbow from the liepard's chest, _her fault._

_You're a mess_, realized Kyle. The gallade was covered in red marks that ranged from scrapes to gouges. And he looked exhausted.

_Yeah… Also forgot to mention, I think I'm poisoned…_

"Apade, return," Kyle said, understanding that he was on the brink of collapsing. This time, Apade didn't object. _Well done, that's three of them you've finished off._

Kyle tucked the pokeball away and morphed into his psychic form. "Not even Bankai? I'm offended," J remarked.

"It's okay, I'll still beat your pokemon in secondary," Kyle said seriously.

J threw out her hax… hax… HAXEW.

"Bless you," said Ashley.

**Thanks… Bro, you're not even in this scene. Get outta here.**

"Haxorus, dual chop."

Kyle teleported to the side when the Unovan dragon charged in. He shot a wave of pink psychic energy at his back, hitting him square on.

"Slash."

Haxorus swung his head at Kyle, who teleported again and used psybeam on him.

"Dragon claw!"

This time, Kyle teleported and psychicked the haxorus headfirst into the ceiling, leaving a pair of holes where his blades hit.

"Dragonbreath! Now!"

Kyle teleported to evade it, which turned out to be pointless when the psychic hold on Haxorus relaxed and he fell, aim going wild. Kyle appeared in front of him (ow, his head suddenly hurt) and psybeamed him in the face. Haxorus came crashing to the ground.

"That was fast," Kyle commented, surprised.

J narrowed her eyes. "Haxorus, return. Ariados."

_Saving Salamence for last_, Kyle noted mentally.

"String shot."

Kyle ducked under it and fired a psybeam. The bug-type continued to shoot string at him, which he either dodged or teleported away from before he attacked.

_Why doesn't she just have him attack me?_ he wondered. _Ariados is a bug. He's got the type advantage and everything._

Kyle's special attacks paid off, and after a few minutes Ariados couldn't shoot spider silk anymore.

"Return."

"All right, why didn't you have him attack?" Kyle asked.

J pulled a dull black box out of her pocket with an air of boredom. "So I could do this," she said, pressing a button.

**THUD!**

"Well, the thud sound effect finally works–"

**GET OUT.**

Kyle flinched away from the glass that slammed down in front of him… then he realized it had him surrounded. A glass column had dropped from the ceiling, encasing Kyle inside. He started to teleport out, but an energy barrier woven into the glass blocked him.

Ash had told him about this: only dragon energy could break it.

_Ashley?_

_Yeah?_ Huh, so he could still speak telepathically.

_I need help. Are you fighting?_

_Iro, yeah. He's… crap, now's a bad time._

_How bad?_

_Really bad._

"Wonder if we can spare some energy from the receivers outside?" J pretended to muse, pulling a small lever on the dashboard.

Something above Kyle started to glow – he looked up and found the end of an energy gun pointed down at him, the light inside intensifying. He created a protect bubble around him, but it shattered and flew up into the gun.

_Ashley–_

**BANG!**

* * *

><p>Ashley typically didn't enjoy hand-to-hand combat. At least, not as much as blasting energy at people (Or pokemon. Or Lynches. She wasn't that picky.). It just never gave her the sense of satisfaction fighting with energy did.<p>

But of course outside the airship, the energy guns were sucking up all the energy around. So there wasn't really a choice.

And she was discovering she enjoyed it. Fighting hand-to-hand. In Bankai, she had wings and long claws that worked even without extra energy. Iro was fighting with bits of sharp scrap metal to counter Ashley's claws. Even though she hadn't practiced hand-to-hand that much, they were fairly evenly matched. She guessed Iro had been relying on his rifle so much, he hadn't thought to practice anything else.

She blocked a jab to her ribs. The sun was almost all the way over the horizon; at this point it was below the airship and they were fighting in the near dark. Add Ashley's blurry vision nemesial, and she had to put all her focus into this fight.

_Ashley?_ It was Kyle.

_Yeah?_ She swung at Iro's face; he ducked and she jabbed lower, skimming his chin.

_I need help. Are you fighting?_

_Iro, yeah. He's– _Suddenly Iro faked right and swiped left, nearly slashing Ashley's arm. She blocked it, but he landed a cut down her other arm. Recoiling, she realized how deep that one had gotten. Ow.

…_Crap_, she said, _now's a bad time._

_How bad?_ Kyle asked.

_Really bad._

But what did he need help for? Ashley shook the thought aside – Iro was coming in with two blades and she had to dodge. The next move was a block. She managed to nick the bridge of his nose. Good. That was a distracting injury to have.

_Ashley_–

A chill rushed through her spine when she heard an explosion from the front of the ship. Iro scored a hit over her collarbone, narrowly missing her neck. _Focus, Ashley_, she told herself, blocking out her worries and the cold fear that threatened to invade her heart.

_Just… focus…_

* * *

><p>Kyle felt it hit him, although it wasn't like he'd expected it to be. He'd expected searing heat and overwhelming energy; this was solid and heavy and bruising in the front and sharp and light in the back, and the energy felt like–<p>

…_dragon?_

_My name isn't Dragon. You know that,_ said the thing under him.

Kyle reflexively grabbed hold of the downy feathers beneath his hands. The remaining energy of a dragon rush attack was just fading away.

_Aquila–_

_Don't try and right yourself. Just hold on tight._

It was then that Kyle realized he was riding backwards on his latios. But he hugged tight to Aquila's back anyway.

**SMASH!**

A few stray glass shards hit Kyle's back, though not very hard. He looked up to see the shattered front windshield of J's airship receding from view.

_So now that you're alive for sure, are you in okay shape as well, or what_? Aquila checked.

Kyle did a scan. _I think my back's all glassy._

_Is that all?_

_Yeah._

_Then you're good. Going back now._

Aquila swerved around. _Hey, how about you? After going headfirst through all that?_ Kyle returned.

_I'll live._

_That's optimistic._

_I'm not stopping yet, if that's what you're saying._

_Let me see your face._

_We're landing first._

The latios came to a sudden stop. Kyle slid sideways off Aquila's back, then came around and examined his pokemon's face.

"It's not that bad, actually," he informed him.

"Latios magic," Aquila said blithely. "I'm gonna join Sagitta again in the air. You should join Ashley or something."

As he zoomed off, Kyle scanned the place they'd landed. It was the top of the airship. Air battles were happening everywhere. Kyle recognized a few pokemon – an ursaring was wreaking havoc at the edge of the roof, a pair of gyarados were smacking birds out of the air, and a flareon and zebstrika were shooting energy into some of the nearby receivers. Iro's pokemon.

_Where's the other one?_

"Ow!" Something bit his leg. He looked down and found a leafeon there. "Oh, that's who was missing," Kyle said. He shifted into Bankai and hit the eeveelution with the flat part of his sword, sending the pokemon flying.

Kyle ran towards the middle of the ship, where a pair of humanesque figures were dueling at close range. Both were covered in cuts, healing at a variety of speeds depending on how deep they were.

Ashley suddenly flew up a few feet and came down, clocking Iro on the head. Stunned, he couldn't defend himself from the claw slashes that followed. He fell back, gasping for breath and bleeding a lot.

Ashley didn't notice Kyle. The sun was all the way gone at this point, and she was fighting Iro's silhouette. She did notice the heal pulse that closed the huge gash in her arm, though.

Turning her head towards the source of the move, she squinted. "Kyle?"

"Yeah."

Her face relaxed. "You're okay, then?"

"Yeah. Aquila got me out of that."

She nodded, glancing at Iro. "That's good… I guess I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

"You were busy with your own fight," he said.

Ashley grinned at him. "Yeah, that's why I said 'I guess'."

Iro had recovered by then, and swiped at Ashley's chest. She stepped back from him and kicked him instead. And got really lucky with her arbitrary kick placement.

Kyle flinched as Iro dropped the scrap metal and fell, howling and clutching… yeah. That one part. Ashley reached back for a final hit, but she hesitated.

_How do I knock him out with claws? Cause I can't just kill him…_

A leafeon decided for her.

"YEOW! WHAT ARE YOU?! GET OFF!"

Kyle knocked the leafeon away with his sword for the second time.

"Get down!" Ashley yelled suddenly.

Kyle ducked, a beam of ice energy shooting over him. It dispersed into the air normally, the receivers ignoring it.

"Energy she uses… can't be absorbed. Her vindica," Ashley said, figuring it out quickly.

Kyle looked behind him. J had arrived on her salamence, her eyes uncovered and shimmering gold and blue. She jumped off, landing on the airship. A few pidgeot rushed in at the salamence, but a thunderbolt from J warded them off.

"Salamence, they're yours!" she called, scanning the air for potential interferences.

Iro, meanwhile, picked up his scrap metal and gingerly got to his feet.

Ashley and Kyle weighed their options. Ignoring either Iro or Salamence was out of the question. So teaming up on either one wasn't a real option. But fighting a Salamence without energy attacks?

It was Ashley who made the decision. "I want to finish the fight with Iro."

"Join me soon?" Kyle asked, lifting his sword.

"Yeah."

Kyle distanced himself from them so the fights wouldn't collide. Salamence roared and rushed in on wings, stopping before he was in range of Kyle's sword.

Ashley and Iro resumed combat, locking into a rhythm of blocks and strikes.

_And… Break it!_

Ashley dodged instead of blocking and punched him in the mouth, curling her claws in to avoid stabbing his face. Iro retaliated by throwing one of his makeshift knives. Not at her chest, cause he'd made that mistake before.

"Aaah–" She spread her claws over her face and blocked the second one, using her other hand to try to pull the first knife from her stomach. The stiff claws on her hand couldn't grasp it. Iro reached forward and yanked it out, leaving a deep gash that started bleeding steadily.

At the same time, he now only had one knife left. Ashley kicked the other one away, sending it spinning off into the darkness. She blocked with one hand and slashed his arm with the other. He punched her in the stomach with his left hand. Expecting a knife to the face, Ashley shielded herself with a clawed hand. She was not disappointed.

Then, over his shoulder, Ashley saw something go flying. She wouldn't have noticed if part of it wasn't a shiny sticklike thing.

"Arceus, Kyle!" Swiping randomly in Iro's direction, Ashley kept tabs on the sword-wielding person, who'd landed on his feet.

Kyle's fight wasn't going well. Salamence's wingspan was incomparably longer than the reach of his sword. He'd started throwing his triangular guard at Salamence to compensate, but without energy surrounding it, it wasn't nearly as effective as usual. The wings, meanwhile, were pretty strong.

They were fairly close to the edge, and several times Kyle had fallen off and seen the destruction below. Shots from the energy cannons echoed out at least five times a minute, but when he looked down before teleporting back up – and getting a progressively worse headache each time – he saw fires raging in the woods, trainers and pokemon running for their lives, and… for others' lives, if he was hearing things right.

…_Jen, where'd you go?!…_

…_him to the pokemon center…_

…_GET OUT OF THERE, YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM FIRE…_

This had to finish _now_.

At least _soon._

He swung his sword at an oncoming salamence wing. It barely nicked the wing, and flew from his hand with the impact. With a few wingbeats, Salamence flew over to it. A ball of white energy built up in his mouth.

"No, don't–"

He fired. The hyperbeam seared Kyle's nerves like it had hit him straight in the chest, except it was a different part of him melting. He ran and pulled his sword free from the attack. It was okay. Barely.

Salamence roared at Kyle. He lashed his wing out and swept Kyle over the edge of the airship. Kyle tried to teleport back and felt a stab to the head. His teleportation didn't work.

"Oh, Arceus!" Ashley saw it. Kyle came back within two seconds every time that happened before. Two seconds were up already. She snapped her wings out and shot away from Iro.

"Hey!" he shouted, flinging his remaining metal blade. The throw went wide.

She shot over the side, quickly scanning the air. Fires below gave just enough light to illuminate a falling boy among the birds. Ashley dove. She felt electricity shoot through her, but ignored it. J's vindica meant nothing to her electrical resistance.

Kyle was close enough now. Wind rushing in their ears, they reached out. Ashley realized she was giving him claws to grab hold of, and switched into dragon for hands. The sudden return of her vision threw everything into stark detail. Their hands reached each other and Ashley spread her wings to stop their fall.

It was one of those moments where "time slows down." Time doesn't actually get slower. The people involved don't feel it as slower, either. Everything happens at its normal rate, but so much happens in those few moments that the author can't explain it all without it sounding longer than it is. So they expand the frame.

When her vision snapped to detail and she caught him, their eyes met. Her regenerated ones; his dark brown. Kyle's glinted in the darkness, probably from the fall or the fight.

_His eyes are brown._

_He's in a Bankai that combines bright orange energy with pale pink. Even if they mixed, they couldn't possibly make a shade of brown that dark._

And then, in that moment, everything made sense. The prophecy didn't line up like it should have because they'd gotten it all wrong.

"You have an idea that could end this all, don't you?" she asked him.

"I – yeah, why?" He seemed surprised.

"Try it."

Kyle looked toward the airship. "I need to get inside."

"We'll cover for you."

A girl with dragon wings ascended and hovered next to them, holding onto a boy who gripped a sword in one hand. "There's a hole in the front windshield, if you need a way in," Kyle's lookalike said with Aquila's voice.

"I forgot you guys could do that," Ashley said, surprised.

Her own stunt double grinned. "Have fun!" Sagitta said, rising above the airship.

Ashley grinned. _That'll confuse them enough to let us get away._

She glided around to the front, avoiding the energy cannons as they shot missiles into the forest. "Why couldn't you teleport?" she asked Kyle.

"I don't know. I just got this headache all of a sudden."

They found the window, which was tall enough for them to fit through after Kyle tucked in his legs. Kyle immediately took off, Ashley running close behind. At the first corner, she saw that his eyes were closed.

They ran through the tight corridors of J's ship until they reached a door at the end of a hallway. "Engine room," Kyle said. "The ship's so advanced that they have a different kind of engine, but there's an engine room all the same. Vulnerable spot."

"Can I blast the door?"

"Sure."

Ashley amassed dragon energy and fired it at the door. Finally, she could use energy attacks again. Her dragon pulse went straight through the door, leaving a gaping hole. Alarms started to blare around them. Ashley and Kyle tensed, but nothing happened. When no one was around to fight intruders, the alarms were useless.

Kyle hesitated, looking down at his sword.

"Well?"

He glanced up. "If this works, I don't know how fast we can get away."

"I've got it covered. Do it."

"All right then, back up a little."

Ashley retreated to a safe distance (or, what she guessed would be safe) and silently shifted into dark type. Kyle leveled his sword at the hole in the door.

It was the lollipop trick. The one Luoir, Aj's lucario, had used in battle ages ago. Kyle pulled fighting energy into the point of his sword. It glowed blue rather than orange: focus blast. An orb appeared there, gleaming with energy and growing bigger and–

Kyle pulled his arm up. "Shooting… Now!"

He swiped downward. Centrifugal force sent the delta flying off his sword, catching the focus blast and pulling it along for the ride. The projectile zoomed through the hole in the door.

**KA–BOOM!**

Ashley lunged forward and grabbed him from behind, faint attacking them both away from the fiery explosion that engulfed the corridor. They appeared in the forest somewhere. There weren't any trainers or pokemon in sight.

"Where's…" Kyle looked around.

"Is it getting darker?" Ashley wondered.

Four things happened in order.

Two furry – no, feathery – pokemon appeared and surrounded them with a glimmering blue protect bubble.

Aquila yelled, "You just ended it all, don't get _killed_ after _ending it all_."

An enormous cluster of black boxes fell on the protect, which creaked just a little in protest.

Ashley almost impaled herself with Kyle's sword by hugging him and shouting, "It worked! You did it!"

And just because four is supposedly unlucky in some cultures, here's a fifth thing:

The latii teleported them away.

* * *

><p><strong>Final author's note in the epilogue.<strong>


	28. Epilogue: The Dark's Brightest Light

**Written in one day like a boss. Where was this madness in the seven months it took me to write the last chapter.**

**Ah well. Read ahead.**

* * *

><p>There was a knock at the door.<p>

"Come in."

Aj poked her head in. "Healed yet?"

"You've only been gone a few hours," Mike said, resting his bandaged arm on his stomach. The doctors in Hearthome had done surgery to reconnect his broken nerves.

"You coulda come up with some massive recovery method in that time," Aj shrugged, sitting on the bed next to his.

It had been a week since the final battle against Syzygy. Aj had woken up the next day in that hospital bed next to Mike's. It seemed her Lynch recovery had been affected by Mike's nemesial, _through_ her nemesial. It wasn't as slow as his, fortunately.

Since then, Ashley and Kyle had visited every day, the last of the admins – just J and Iro – had been arrested, the Syzygy PC had been hacked (that's how there were so many Syzygy pokemon, despite the much smaller number of trainers), rescue teams had been going out to put out fires and bring back survivors, and the funerals began. Most took place in the hometowns of the deceased.

Aj and Mike, still in recovery, had attended one.

"…the courage to innovate a solution and stay with it, for the sake of others," the pastor or whoever he was said. Needle and Chira stayed with the Lynches at their trainer's memorial service. There had been an unexpected turnout – besides the gym leaders and frontier brains, a number of trainers who had fought with Kevin were here. Aj knew there were two, Anna and Ian, who were with Kevin from the start. Still others regretted not trusting him.

"…persistence in the face of opposition saved many lives…"

They'd heard the story from Ian. While supporting an aura shield, Kevin had started to drain himself of aura energy. Aj had accidentally done that while battling J; it hurt like h #$. Kevin hadn't stopped, and extracted the aura – the life force – from his body. He'd also been directing energy attacks into the 'copter at the same time. Too much at once, even for an aura guardian. Kevin's body continued to course with sparks for several minutes before vanishing.

_He was the real hero_, Aj thought as the empty coffin was lowered into the earth. _Wasn't he._

"How was she?" Mike asked in the present.

"I thought she'd be mad, but she was pretty calm about it all," Aj told him.

"High security cell?"

"Yeah. Iro's next door to her."

"Family first." Mike studied her thoughtful face. "You asked her about Syzygy?"

Aj nodded. "Syzygy's the idea that all Lynches in the organization are equal, but it's a system based heavily on gratitude. Fyr and Iro joined after Mystor saved their lives. And Mystor was rescued by Smokelius."

"The old guy who died months ago?"

"Yeah."

"So why did Mystor turn traitor on them?"

"I'm getting there. Fyr said Mystor had started talking about his debt being repaid, and not owing anything to Syzygy any longer. He didn't like Syzygy's ideals anymore, at least not as much. Fyr said she felt sort of lost after Mystor died, like she didn't know what to fight for anymore. She went on autopilot until her arrest."

"Iro and J seemed to think differently."

"Yeah. They were just in it for the power."

Mike analyzed her face. "What's wrong?"

"Hm? Nothing," she said too innocently.

He looked at her.

Aj shrugged. "I didn't visit Iro. I'm not sure if I want to."

"Ah. That."

"It seems like a lot of his motives had to do with me… or were connected to me in some way," she told him.

"That doesn't make it your fault."

She thought about it. "I guess not. My heart was already spoken for, anyways."

Mike jumped. Figuratively. He was lying down with bandages all over him. Jumping wasn't worth it. " 'Was'?" he repeated.

Aj shifted uncomfortably. "Is," she said.

Mike was silent for a minute.

"WHY DIDN'T I REALIZE IT EARLIER?" he shouted suddenly, making Aj (literally) jump.

"Realize what?"

"You're so obvious, now that I think about it," Mike groaned.

"Am I now? Who, then?" Aj said in surprise.

"Who what?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"Huh?"

"Aj. You know what I mean."

"Well, you know what I mean," she grumbled.

They stared at each other for a few seconds and broke into laughter. Irrational, euphoric laughter that wouldn't stop for the longest time.

"Aah… Aj, I like you too," Mike sighed once they calmed down.

* * *

><p>Kyle found her on the roof of the Hearthome gym that night. She was lying down with her legs dangling over the edge, eyes closed. He didn't really want to disturb her. Kyle pulled out Apade's pokeball just to have something to do. The new seal on the surface covered the crack, holding it together quite well.<p>

"Hey, Kyle."

He put the pokeball away. "…oh. Hey."

Never trust a dark type to be asleep.

Ashley opened her eyes, grinning. "What's up?"

"Not all that much, I guess. Where have you been?"

She raised her eyebrows at the sky. "Axel just left. Something about Hoenn. I was seeing him off."

"Isn't it always Hoenn?" Kyle laughed weakly.

_She likes Axel, doesn't she? I figured she did…_

"He'll be coming back soon to take the Tower Tycoon spot," she said, noticing nothing. Sitting up, Ashley asked, "So what brings you here?"

Kyle sat down next to her, swinging his legs over the side of the rooftop. "I was wondering… How did you know I had an idea?"

She stared at him blankly. "Sorry, what?"

"You knew I had an idea to blow up the ship. How'd you know? I don't remember telling you."

Ashley kept staring.

"…What?" Kyle finally asked.

"You didn't figure it out?"

"Figure out…?"

"The prophecy," said Ashley.

Kyle shook his head.

"Oh. Well, we had it wrong this whole time. Both the League and Syzygy. It wasn't about body parts and it wasn't about elemental types. And it wasn't the requirements for the winning side. It was just a prediction for who'd win."

"…continue."

"For example, heart of steel. Aj's the steel type, so we figured it was her. But the heart of steel is supposed to 'resist the conquering feel.' And you've seen how much she needed to stay with Mike through everything."

"She panicked when Syzygy took him," Kyle remembered.

"Right. If the conquering emotion is love, then her heart really didn't fit the description."

"So what was it?" Kyle wondered.

"Uh… I'll get back to that. There was also the mind of a fighter. You're a fighting type, so we all figured that meant you. But you get headaches every time you teleport, and… no offense, but that's not something I'd associate with the mind of a fighter."

"Okay. Who's the mind of a fighter?"

"It's Mike. He's the one who came up with most of our tactical stuff throughout all this. He took the lead so often, whether in organizing teams to investigate Syzygy or planning our next move. And the part about _vanquishing all after_ – he wiped out J's forces pretty much singlehandedly. He finished off the last six henchmen a week ago, _after_ getting the rest of them on the Hearthome plateau."

"What else?"

Ashley considered the next line to explain. "Well, heart of steel. That's me. I've been… I've been pushing down emotions for a while. It worked out really well, and I didn't get distracted by them like I'd feared."

She didn't say what emotions she was pushing down. Kyle had a feeling she was talking about feelings for Axel… "So if Mike is the mind of a fighter," Kyle recalled, changing the topic a bit, "then who's the wings of lightning?"

"If you'll remember, the prophecy said _two wings of lightning_. We sort of skimmed over the number because, I mean, every bird has two wings. But it's really two separate entities who are the 'wings of lightning'."

Kyle frowned. "So… you and Mike?"

"No. We didn't even consider these two in the prophecy. Sagitta and Aquila are faster than me or Mike will ever be, and the lightning is a metaphor for their speed. They rescued Ash and Dawn from J a few months back, they stopped Fyr from stabbing me after they took my eyes, they pretended to be us so that we could get to the engine room. A ton of the fights we've been in would have been way different without Sagitta and Aquila involved – usually for the worse."

"Always for the worse," Kyle said.

"Yeah, always for the worse," Ashley agreed. "So I guess you could say they confused the fighting."

Kyle smiled. "Dawn was talking about the look on J's face when the latii swooped in. She was laughing about how J looked so bewildered and confused, but I never would have made the connection."

Ashley grinned. "How are they? Dawn and Ash?"

"They joined a rescue team. Dawn buried her quilava at her house. Ash said it was a small funeral."

Ashley nodded.

"So back to our conversation."

She laughed. "Eyes of a dragon, to spot the heart's worst abrasion. Aj finally managed to find Mike using aura, at the Eterna HQ. Besides that, she notices things quickly." Aj had also figured out who Ashley liked ages ago, but she didn't mention that. "She's got the eyes of a dragon cause she sees things better than most of us. It couldn't be me; I'm way too dense to have eyes of a dragon."

"Then it didn't matter that you don't have dragon-type eyes," Kyle realized.

"Oh yeah," Ashley said. "Heh. I forgot about that somehow."

"What about the one nobody could figure out… Dark's brightest light?"

Ashley hesitated. "It's…" She cleared her throat. "When you fell that night, I… I realized your eye color doesn't match your type. You were in Bankai, and your eyes were this color," she told him, gesturing at his eyes. "They're this dark, dark shade of brown, and… they sorta light up sometimes. Like when you go on a nerdy rant. They were bright that night, and… well, it's you. _The dark's brightest light that ends the fight._ That's how I knew you could end it."

"Weird way of wording it, though."

She shrugged. "Hey, Cynthia _was_ sleeptalking."

"Good point. Plus the author was only in **X**th grade."

**HEY. DON'T GO GIVING OUT MY AGE.**

"Okay, okay…"

"…And yeah, that's the prophecy," Ashley said, lying back down.

Kyle looked out over the city. Hearthome had the most lights in Sinnoh, after Sunyshore. The view from the gym top shone with streetlamps and window lights in varying shades of blue and yellow and white, distanced just enough from the gym to isolate them in darkness.

Ashley noticed. "It's a great view. Sunyshore's too bright. Lights are so much prettier in darkness," she said, sitting up and observing the view with him.

_Wait._ Kyle looked sideways at her. The expression on her face suggested she had something on her mind.

He shifted. "…are they usually?" he asked.

Ashley rolled her head sideways to look at him. His eyes were shining.

"Yeah," she said.

There was a pause.

"I like your eyes."

"I thought you liked Axel's," Kyle admitted.

"Axel? Nah."

"Oh." Kyle got to his feet.

"Going somewhere?" Ashley sat up. Crap. She shouldn't have told him.

"Not particularly," said Kyle, pretending to stretch.

"Ah."

Kyle breathed in. "Aj really does have sharp eyes. She figured out I liked someone within a week of me realizing it, myself."

Ashley raised her eyebrows. "You like someone?"

"…yeah."

She stood up and faced him. "Can I take the fact that you haven't run away as a good sign?"

"Well, we are on a rooftop. It's a bit difficult to run away if your teleportation abilities aren't worth anything."

"Ah. Never mind then–"

He laughed and pulled her into a hug.

"Wow, you could have _said something_," Ashley told him, grinning.

She hugged him back.

* * *

><p><strong>Kevin Yale – Eh, you'll never read this. Hey, you're a cool guy. I wouldn't have put you in this story if you weren't. You'd have been Iro or someone instead. Aaand that's all I had to say to you.<strong>

**Mike Voltwing – I… yeah. It was great being on a team with you. Sometimes I think you were the first to move on from it, which amazes me because I had such a hard time with that same task. I doubt you'll read this either, but keep your head, okay? Despite being friends with "those" guys. I made you the mind of a fighter for a reason.**

**Aj Ferra – Heyyy. Thanks for reading this semi-idiocy for so long :) I guess I finally killed a character like you wanted. Seriously though, I'm glad you read it. You didn't get your kissing scene, but tbh hugging is more romantic to me than kissing. Sorry for making Aj… Haha, no I'm not. Your character's deviated far from who you are, but I regret nothing. If anything, I'll just say you're more like Ashley, and I'm more like Aj in real life. At least regarding the hearts. Maybe I'll make you read my other stories now XD**

**Kyle Delta – Oh Lord. Where do I begin… I did like you. I guess that's a good place to start. And I did like your eyes a lot. They really are – or were, I'm not sure anymore – night-dark with lights in them, like your character's. I wanted the ending to go this way since the very beginning, and I decided to stay true to my Xth grade self. I've been over you for quite a while now, but I don't regret having liked you. You were the first guy I ever liked who was a close friend first, and that was a whole new experience to me. I enjoyed it a lot. And I liked you a lot. Thanks for the experience.**

**Axel Nightblazer – Everyone go check this guy out under the name Requiem Wings. He thinks he can't write, but he's fantastic as both a writer and a person, and the whole reason I started writing online. Axel, you have no idea how much I joyfully freaked out when you reviewed my story for the first time. Thank you so much for staying with EOAD, and staying with me. There have been points when I felt hopeless, and during those times I felt like you were my only friend. I get funny looks whenever I tell people I have a friend from SINY who I've never met, but it's way more than worth it. Thank you.**

**To everyone else – Thank you all for reading! Whether you've stuck by EOAD from the beginning or only recently found it in the fanfic archives, I'm immensely grateful for your support. Eyes of a Dragon took from April 2011 to July 2014 to write, and I couldn't have done it without the readers' support. This is the first story of significant length I've ever finished, and I'm so glad I've gotten to share this with you.**

**If you look back through the story, you'll find a lot of things – both big and small – that the characters said and did that foreshadowed the prophecy. I couldn't list all of them; that would take too long. I put in as many hints as possible while doing my best to stay discreet. Did I succeed? Read back and let me know ;)**

**I'm probably not going to edit this. There's too much else to do, and my present self sees too many things to go back and spend time working on. I have band next week, and I'm starting new responsibilities this year. I'm going to work on Novas are Shattered Stars, which will be my only fanfiction for a while. A few ideas from the other one I had in mind will be incorporated. Eyes of a Dragon, however, is finished at long last.**

**All right, that's it. I'll sign off now.**

**Til next time,**

**~A. Eon.**


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